Hard to Forgive
by Tiro
Summary: Banished from Konoha after an accident with Kyuubi, Naruto swears to come back too powerful to be brought down. Years pass with no sign. Until they hear a Hidden Village has risen, and its' residents are demons and outcasts. Will they find Naruto there?
1. Chapter 1

**Hard to Forgive**

**Summary**: Banished from Konoha after an accident with Kyuubi, Naruto swears to come back too powerful to be brought down. Years pass with no sign. Until they hear a Hidden Village has risen, and its' residents are demons and outcasts. Will they find Naruto there?

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Strong!Naruto, Demon!Naruto, some people-bashing, blood, violence… maybe some more, I don't know.

**Disclaimers**: Does it look like I own Naruto? I didn't think so either…

-o-

**UPDATED 2010-10-01**

-o-

**Chapter One**

Naruto wanted to cry. He wanted to cry real badly. His eyes stung and his mind spun around. He was not sure the tears, if they would come, would be of sorrow or anger.

They had betrayed him. All of them. Konoha had betrayed him, they had sided against him. All of them. Even Iruka. Hell, even Tsunade! Just because he lost control once; _once_! It was not like he had hurt anyone; no, he had saved them! He had killed the Akatsuki leader, successfully destroying one of the strongest organisations consisting of missing-nins.

And what was the thank you? A one-way ticket of Konoha with the warning to never return. Simple as that. Looks of hatred, eyes filled with fear. People talking. Whispering their glee as he walked out through the gates. At the last second he had turned around, facing all of them. Tsunade stood in the front; her eyes were hard. Maybe she did not want him to go… but she was scared of him. Scared of what he could do; scared of what he might, _possible_ do. They were not going to let him stay just to find out. Better be safe than sorry. Her eyes told Naruto that.

He got angry then. He tore off the necklace she had given him, _it felt so long ago, but it had only been a few years ago and he had been happy then, so happy_, threw it on the ground in front of him and stomped on it. Tsunade heard a sound she never thought she would hear when it came to that necklace. Naruto lifted his foot. The necklace had cracked underneath his sandal, now laying broken just like his trust to them, to Konoha. He looked up with angry eyes at the shocked Hokage and screamed:

"I'll make you regret this! I will come back one day, too strong to be stopped by you, too powerful to be brought down! I will seek out the people who will appreciate me, people who don't give a shit of what I am!"

He then vanished, leaving behind a broken necklace, a broken promise.

Now, a bit later, he was only sad. His heart was hurting with each beat it took. He had nowhere to go, because he knew no one. Maybe except for Inari and the guys at Water, but he did not want to go there. They were happy with their new life; he was not sure he would ever be able to be happy again.

The fifteen-year old threw away the orange and black jacket; he could not stand the colour now. He stopped liking orange in that quantity a few months ago. Sure, a few threads of orange in some clothing was fine, but even the new one Jiraiya had given him held too much orange. He was glad he had packed the other clothes Jiraiya had given him. He hoped he would reach a place where he could throw the pants away and dress in his new clothes. For now, he wore the orange pants and his black T-shirt.

Right now he was just running ahead, having no idea what to do. He was under a Henge, making him look a bit older and with brownish hair and green eyes. He was just being careful; who knew what people thought about him now.

The teen stopped for a minute and rested. He was going to show them. He was going to show them what they missed. He was no longer the immature brat they had known. He had changed years ago. They just did not see it.

He closed his eyes for a moment before moving on. He had to get as far away from Konoha as he could before he changed his mind and went to kill everyone. Kyuubi was rumbling inside of him, his host's anger making even the great demon nervous. Maybe it was because Naruto had never felt such anger before.

'Killing them now won't solve anything,' Kyuubi said, hoping to calm the teen down.

'I know but they piss me off,' Naruto replied as he made another stop, looking around. He had moved far enough for today. He climbed higher up to where the leaves would shield him from others. He settled down onto a branch and closed his eyes.

'Kit, we need to talk.'

'Talk on. I'm listening.'

'With me still in you, people will always chase you,' the demon spoke.

'Yes, I thought we established that some years ago,' Naruto could not help but say.

'Don't talk back to me, brat. I'm serious. If you are to grow strong, you can't have two different chakras in your body.'

'It's not like we can just pull you out,' Naruto muttered out. The teen opened his eyes and looked up at the demon. He was in his mindscape, the demon looking down at him. Kyuubi sighed and with a swirl of red chakra he changed into human form behind the bars. Naruto walked through the bars and sat down. Kyuubi followed. He had fierce red hair, red eyes, tanned skin and dressed in red armour. He had tried, without success, to get rid of all the red a few years ago, causing some humour for his host.

"There is a way," the demon said and looked away. "A painful way."

"Tell me," Naruto said.

"You do a ritual of sorts," Kyuubi said and looked at him briefly. "Everyone says removing your demon from you will kill you, but that's only if you go the normal way."

"The normal way?"

"Yes, the one Akatsuki has done on Gaara for an example. But that is forced removal; they never considered the host and the demon to be… on friendly terms, like us. That gives us another possibility to release me from you."

"That ritual?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"It's painful for you," the demon said, "not for me. You undo the seal while doing the ritual; the demon helps their host by beginning to push out. You need a human sacrifice, because the only way you can bring me out is if I have this human form."

"Will you have it forever? Or will you be a normal human?"

"I will have my human form forever," Kyuubi said. "There is no way avoiding that. I will not be a human though; the sacrifice is merely to give me blood and flesh instead the way I am now, spirit."

"If we succeed?"

"Your own chakra will begin to grow, to expand, adjust to being alone," Kyuubi said and scratched his cheek with a claw-like nail. "It will be hard the first few months, but I know you have enormous chakra reserves even without mine. Everyone tried to teach to you rely on my chakra, and that made your own retreat pretty much."

Naruto looked down for a few moments, his arms crossed. Kyuubi watched him quietly, letting his host decide the next actions all on his own. Then Naruto looked up again and said:

"What kind of sacrifice do you want? Man, woman or child?"

-o-

**Three days later**

'Are you really sure about this, Naruto?'

'Yes, now go on with it.'

The demon sighed and then took Naruto through the ritual once before the teen would do it. Naruto had drawn the circle with his blood as the demon had requested and was now kneeling down in the middle. Before him lay a man whose throat had been slit. The man had no name in Naruto's mind, as he never bothered to ask it. He did not know if the man had any family, and had not cared. He just was at the wrong place at the wrong time. At least his death had been swift and painless.

Once Kyuubi had explained Naruto put his palms on the man's chest. The demon inside of the teen took a deep breath; there was always the slim chance some of his chakra remained in Naruto and that would mean Naruto had to merge with the chakra, making him more of a demon. Naruto knew this risk, and did not care. He said it was fine. Lately, many things had been fine with the teen.

The ritual began. Kyuubi began to push himself out from Naruto, out from the mind, and from the body. It was somewhat strange doing it, but Kyuubi had been involved in a lot of strange situations and feelings during the years he had been alive. He hoped no one would come, attracted to the screaming Naruto did. The teen himself was not aware he had begun to scream; the demon so far succeeded to soothe the pain away.

As Kyuubi's arm left Naruto's body, Naruto could start feeling the pain. He threw his head back, his eyes rolling back and his scream began anew. The demon's arm found the sacrifice and held onto the body as he began to drag himself out. It was a really, _really_ strange situation but Kyuubi was not about to complain.

After several painful minutes, Kyuubi with a last yank pulled his foot out and went into the sacrifice which immediately began to change into the demon's form.

Naruto fell to the ground, writhing in pain. The body was now formed and ready but Kyuubi was rather stiff; he had not moved around in a real body for a very long time. He managed to turn his head towards Naruto and groaned in misery at the sight. Some of his chakra was still within the teen, just as he feared. He moved slowly, finally arriving at the writhing body.

"Naruto," he said, holding the shaking body as still as he could with his stiff arms. The teen gave no indication that he had heard the demon; his body continued to twitch and his eyes were still rolled back. "Naruto! Wake up! Some of my chakra is still left within you."

Naruto finally regained some sorts of senses and looked at Kyuubi.

"Some of your chakra?" he got out.

"Yes, that is why you still are in pain. Merge with it. Embrace it, and make it to your own."

"I don't know how," Naruto gritted out, his body twitching in the demon's arms.

"Go to your mindscape. In my cage the chakra will be. Embrace it with your arms, and it will merge with you," Kyuubi said. "Go now."

Naruto did as Kyuubi told him.

-o-

**Two years later**

A boy no older than seven years old was running for his life. His thin legs carried him faster than normal, but not fast enough to shake loose of his followers. Men and women, older than him, stronger than him, wiser than him. Their screaming made the tears fall faster.

_Why? Why do they chase me? What have I done to them? Why are they trying to kill me? Why am I the only different one? _

"Monster!"

"Freak!"

"Demon!"

"You should never have been born!"

"Stop you stupid brat! We'll put you out of your misery!"

The boy cried harder and tried to run faster. He slipped and with a crash was sent to the ground. He skidded to a halt and tried to get up. His leg protested, having been hurt in the fall. His wide eyes, filled with tears and pain, turned to look at the group of people who now stood in a half-circle around him.

"You're fast for being such a small brat," one man said with a grin. He was holding an axe. "But this is the end. There is nowhere you can run."

The boy scooted backwards, wailing and calling for help. Suddenly he bumped into something… something warm but hard. He looked up.

A person. Another one? Had he taken a different route than the others to make sure the boy would have nowhere to escape? Tears welled up faster in the boy's eyes.

"Who are you?" the man with the axe asked. "You from the village? Sorry, the light isn't so good. You want to have a go with him first?"

"Get out of my sight," the person growled, his voice deep and ominous but soothing for the boy.

"What did you say, you bastard?" someone screamed.

"I don't like repeating myself, low-lives," the man snarled. "Get out of my sight before I slay you all."

They retreated a bit before a woman shouted:

"He's only one and we are twenty! Plus he has to protect the brat!"

"You're right!" the man with the axe shouted. "Get ready to die, stranger!"

The person crouched down next to the boy and said:

"Close your eyes, child."

Two fingers gently helped him. The person rose up and the boy curled up. He did not want to see the nice man get killed. He heard their shouts as they charged. He whimpered and bit his lip. The nice man was going to die because of him. And then they were going to kill him. They were going to kill the nice man and him for _nothing_. They were just scared of the unknown, and killed what they were scared off.

Suddenly screams erupted from a woman, followed shortly by a man. The boy heard something splatter onto the ground but squeezed his eyes shut even harder and put his hands over his ears. After a few minutes, everything was silent again. The boy realized no one was attacking him, removed his hands and opened his eyes. Only to stare at the scene before him in shock.

Twenty corpses lay on the forest floor. The nice man cleaned off a katana from blood, its steel shining in the moonlight with each swift swipe with the cloth. A gentle wind began to blow and the moon shone onto the man's face. The boy's eyes widened in wonder.

The man looked young, had purple eyes and tattoos underneath them. His skin was almost white, making the eyes and tattoos appear much darker than what they probably were. But that was not what interested the boy.

The man had sharp teeth, and pointed ears sticking out from the wild and long black-red hair. The man was dressed in a long, black trench-coat and underneath a pair of baggy black pants, a belt to which several scrolls were attached and the now sheathed katana hanging on his left hip. He wore nothing on his torso or on his feet. The finger- and toenails were sharp and looking a bit like claws.

The man now turned to the boy and walked over to him. He crouched down and with gentle movements cleaned away the salty liquid from the boy's cheeks. The claw-like nails scratched his skin a bit but the boy did not get scared. The movements were gentle, not meant to harm him.

"Who are you?" the boy asked in awe.

"I bear no name," the man replied, "for it would be a disgrace to my parents if I continued to use it. A friend of mine calls me Sora, for when I was young my eyes matched the colour of a bright sky."

"Oh… so you're… Sora-san?" the boy said.

"Yes, I am. And who might you be?" Sora asked.

"I don't have a name," the boy said and looked away. "They always say monster to me."

"Why?"

"Because I guess I am one."

"Never call yourself a monster, child," the man said angrily. "It will only pain you."

"How do you know?"

"For the people I lived with before, in my former village, I was a monster," Sora said quietly, making the boy whip his head up to stare at the man. "They barely knew my name, so used were they to call me monster. It took me a long time to understand why they did what they did, and once I had found out… I was already too deep down in the line of hatred."

The boy began to cry again.

"No, not crying," Sora said. "I was hoping it would cheer you up to know you are not alone."

"But they were mean to Sora-san!" the boy cried. "They shouldn't have been mean to Sora-san, because he's a very kind person!"

Sora's eyes softened a bit and he said:

"People do not see us that way."

"Us?"

"We two are not alone," Sora said. "I am travelling village to village in search of my own people. You are so far the youngest I have found."

"Me?" the boy asked, eyes wide. "I am… one of your people?"

"Cast away like rags," Sora said bitterly. "Thrown out without a care. Led to a life full of hatred and wishes of revenge. I was like that, until a year ago. I had spent one year by then away from the village I bore such hatred to, and felt very alone. My friend asked me, if I was so alone, why not build myself a village so I can protect my people."

"You are building a village?" the boy asked, excited.

"My friend are helping the ones I have promised a better life to build it while I travel, trying to save those who are in need. Would you like to follow me?"

The boy's eyes widened even more, if that was possible.

"I can go with Sora-san?" he asked in shock.

"Yes, you can go with me."

"But-! But I'm nothing! I'm just a child, I can't do anything! I don't even have a name and-!"

"Yokaze."(1)

"Eh?"

"That will be your name, so I can remember where I met you. Where the wind of the night brought us together."

The boy looked at Sora, his lower lip trembling.

"But…" he tried again.

"I will tell you something, a deep secret," Sora said. "Something only my friend knows of so far. I will share this secret with you to make you understand my trust in you, Yokaze."

He liked the name. How easily it was given to him. By this man. By his saviour.

"Okay," newly-named Yokaze said.

Sora smiled and leaned closer. His black and red bangs brushed Yokaze's cheek. The man smelled faintly of blood and sakura blossoms, a scent Yokaze loved as soon as he felt it. The smell of his saviour, the smell of Sora-san.

"I will tell you my real name, the name my father gave me before he died," Sora whispered. Yokaze nodded fervently, showing he was ready. "I was born as Uzumaki Naruto in the Hidden Village of Leaf, Konoha."

"Naruto-san," Yokaze whispered.

Sora looked at the boy and said:

"That name is but a mere memory now. I shall not disgrace my mother or my father by calling myself that. They died to save a village I have no love for. They died for people I rather want to see dead. I am going against that village, although not wishing for war, and therefore must bury my old name. Just as everyone else in my village, your village, has."

"They have?"

"They cast away who they were, and became a new person," the man said with a smile. "Just as I did. Just as you have done."

Yokaze stared at the man before him. Someone who understood. Someone who called him something else than monster. Someone who gave him a name to call his own.

Someone who accepted him.

Tbc…

* * *

(1) Night Wind

New story that has been in my mind for a long time now, probably ever since I started see Naruto and got into the anime and manga. It was just recently I finally thought it could be actually written down.

Chapter two: Years and years have passed when suddenly a missing-nin a Konoha team is chasing gets caught by another team. A team from the Hidden Village of Blood, where the demons and outcasts lives. Only one thing; Konoha has never heard of the village before…

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	2. Chapter 2

**Hard to Forgive**

**Summary**: Banished from Konoha after an accident with Kyuubi, Naruto swears to come back too powerful to be brought down. Years pass with no sign. Until they hear a Hidden Village has risen, and its' residents are demons and outcasts. Will they find Naruto there?

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Strong!Naruto, Demon!Naruto, some people-bashing, blood, violence… maybe some more, I don't know.

**Disclaimers**: Does it look like I own Naruto? I didn't think so either…

-o-

Thanks for all the reviews, and I'm so happy you like this story! I hope you like chapter two as well, and that some of your questions will be answered!

Happy reading -smile-

-o-

**UPDATED 2010-10-01**

-o-

**Chapter Two**

Tsunade felt old. Very old. She had felt this way ever since that day. Ever since she let her fear takes control, and cave under the others' wishes. To throw the demon out. No, not the demon. _Naruto_. To throw Naruto out. The look Naruto had given her… the necklace she had given him crumbled easily underneath his rage, just as her heart crumbled. As with the necklace, no one was able to pick up the pieces.

That was fifteen years ago. Fifteen long years, not one day passing before she wondered if he was alright, if Naruto was safe, if he even was alive. If he was ever found, she would apologize to him every day for the rest of her miserable life. He probably did not want anything to do with Konoha. They had all betrayed him, and almost everyone had moved on.

Not she though. Jiraiya had not been in the village at the time but once he showed up and learned what had happened, he had walked out of the gate. No one had managed to find him after that. Iruka had realized what he had done, he realized he had pushed Naruto away, and he realized it not long after Naruto had left. The pain had been too much only after a few months; now he was just another dead person, another grave Tsunade visited. Everyone had said dying by suicide was a disgrace for a shinobi and he should not be buried. Tsunade had replied with she would dig the grave herself if she had to, and kindly knocked out those who protested the most. The only thing she regretted of that whole ordeal was the fact that Iruka was dead.

To her surprise, Aburame Shino had stood up for Naruto along with Nara Shikamaru and Hyuuga Neji. Their parents and Neji's uncle Hyuuga Hiashi had been told by others to make sure their kids changed opinions. The teens had not changed their opinions at all (only Hiashi tried to make Neji think differently while Shibi and Shikaku had told their sons to follow what they felt was right), and one day fourteen years ago the three teens had simply left, leaving behind their hitai-ates. They had yet to be found although Tsunade had shown their respect for Naruto by not looking for them too hard. They clearly did not want to be found.

Everyone else though… they were busy with their lives, although some of them missed the blonde. It was just they did not feel as guilty. They saw him as a danger, just like the rest of the village. They did not understand.

She looked outside, her eyes tired. Gaara would soon come. He was the Kazekage, and despite being more than pissed off at Konoha for their treatment on his best friend, he had not broken the alliance although it had been on thin ice for a year or two after Naruto had been thrown out. For his generosity she would be forever grateful, fully knowing they did not deserve Gaara and the protection he could give in case of war. Of course Tsunade had for a while tried to find Naruto but had given up the search eight years ago. He simply did not want to be found and she had to accept that.

It knocked on the door, breaking her out from her thoughts. She called out and the Kazekage entered. She rose up and greeted him with the normal hug.

"How are you, Tsunade?" he asked as they pulled apart a bit. "You look unwell."

"I've looked unwell for fifteen years," she said and sat down. "It won't change."

"Fear causes strange reactions, makes people act irrational. I myself have experienced it," Gaara said, "and acted rather irrational as everyone else would have done."

"At least you didn't throw out an innocent villager from his village and forbid him to come back," she said and rested her head in her hand.

Gaara saw the guilt was wearing down on her. She maybe had experienced the fear for a few days; the rest of the days she had lived in misery. Most people in this village deserved this misery but not she; not Tsunade. Not when she almost killed herself trying to find Naruto. If only Iruka had been alive and with her; they might have been better if they had been closer. Now there was no chance for the brunette to meet Naruto again, and it made the redhead sad.

"Shall we get down to business?" she asked, breaking him from his thoughts this time.

"Yes, I guess we should," he said absently as he searched his robes for a scroll.

"It should be him sitting here," she said suddenly and Gaara looked up at her. "Naruto. It should be him sitting where I sit, and argue with you. It shouldn't be me; I should be in a nice, cosy house and play the senile old hag I am."

"You are brooding about this far more than usual," he said carefully.

"Today it's exactly fifteen years since he was forced to leave," she said. "I'm not in the best mood."

"I see. I will try to do this meeting as short as possible then. If I recall right your village is in need of some money."

"Yes. We need to change some of the ANBU equipment but can't spare any money at the moment," Tsunade said. "As I can't allow the ANBU going after missing-nins without the right equipment, we are in a bit of a tight situation."

"There are a number of missing-nins who each are worth a lot," Gaara said and took out a scroll. "Here are their names and the information I found on them. They are hunted by all Hidden Villages, but as you know the situation in most of the villages are the same as in Konoha."

"Except for Suna it seems, if you willingly give this up," she said and held up the scroll.

"We captured one recently," the redhead said, "and was therefore able to collect a big sum of money over the normal amount. With that money, we will last for quite some time as most of our equipment is in good condition."

"I envy you," she muttered and took a look at the different persons. "Did Suna ANBU catch your missing-nin?"

"No, I sent out a group of Jounins," he said. "Of course, my sister was among them."

"With her, I guess the missing-nin gave up rather quickly."

"Yes," Gaara said. "He had heard about her and had no wish to fight her."

"Unfortunately we don't have anyone like that."

"You have Kakashi and Sasuke. Sharingan-users; no one wants to fight against them."

"Perhaps," Tsunade said and narrowed her eyes in thought. "I could always send out Hinata as well; no one desires to fight against Byakugan either."

"I will let you plan in peace," he said and rose up.

"Are you going back to Suna?"

"Not immediately. I thought I should visit Iruka-san's grave before I left." Gaara visited the grave every time he was in Konoha, and this day seemed to be no exception.

"Alright," she said and looked outside. "You know… If I could, I would do as Jiraiya did."

"Walk out of the gate without looking back?"

"Yes. This village… before I swore to protect them all but now… I don't feel like protecting those who cast away whatever they fear. But then again, I'm no better than them."

"Is someone missing him?" Gaara asked quietly, looking at the woman.

Tsunade was silent for a while. Then she said:

"Besides me? Sasuke. He was unconscious after a mission at the time, so he could not say anything but I know he was angry. Still is. I have no doubt you will meet him at Iruka's grave. That man drinks more sake than me sometimes."

"Sasuke?" Gaara asked in surprise.

"On the date when we banished Naruto, I know it's useless to send him out on a mission," she said. "He is by Iruka's grave most of the day, more often than not drinking."

"I see. Is there someone else?"

"Not really," she said and looked out again. "Wait… Kakashi as well, Naruto's teacher. He's a lazy bastard but he does whatever he can to make things easier for me. I even heard him once shout at some of the elders to the clans because they insulted Naruto. Man, that was the funniest moment of that year. Their faces… I'll never forget it. So he's green. The others though… They can talk about the good old times, Naruto's jokes and stuff like that but… I can't say they miss him. Most of them probably think they did the right thing."

"The right thing," Gaara repeated. "If Temari had heard them, she would have knocked each of them over the head with her fan… multiply times."

"I believe you," she said with a chuckle. "I wish I could beat some sense into them, but then I would be removed and the village would really become chaos."

"Have you thought of a Rokudaime?"

"I have," she said. "And the answer is the same."

"Still Sasuke?"

"Yes. I asked him a couple of weeks ago, and he didn't seem to mind," she said with a smile. "With a pissed off Uchiha as a leader, this village will feel some pain it deserves."

Gaara chuckled at the image it brought forth in his head; he had rarely seen Sasuke pissed off but once the man lost it, he really lost it.

"He will make a fine Rokudaime, and I will look forward to nag with him for many years to come," Gaara said. "I will be going then."

"Take care," Tsunade said. "And thank you for the information."

"Merely helping a friend," he said and waved as he left.

-o-

The Kazekage walked between graves and saw a still form beside the grave he knew belonged to Umino Iruka. He looked back at his brother Kankuro and the man dressed in black nodded before walking away to leave the two alone for a bit.

Uchiha Sasuke looked up as Gaara closed in. The Sharingan user was dressed in loose, baggy black pants, a white shirt and a black vest over that. His hitai-ate was tied around his neck and a katana was resting on the ground beside him. The man held a cup of sake in his hand.

"Tsunade said you might be here," the Kazekage said and kneeled down. He brushed away some stray leaves that was on the grave and looked at the name.

"She wants me to be Rokudaime," Sasuke said.

"Yes, she told me that."

"I'm of mixed opinions right now about that."

"Why?"

"Well, if I will become Rokudaime I can shape up this piece of shit-village but my freedom will be limited immensely," he said and took a sip of his drink. He did not appear to be drunk. "Tsunade-sama knows I enjoy my freedom, and that is why she lets me leave the village whenever I want to."

"That is why she named you a Sannin, allowing you to go whenever you feel like it?"

"Yes, but I do missions for her," the man said. "I wear the hitai-ate to show I'm still a Konoha shinobi. Sometimes though I just want to throw it away and run the fastest I can."

"But you don't do it."

"I can't do it to her. She feels I'm the only one who can actually change this village. The elders to the clans don't listen very well to her nowadays. She says herself it's soon for her to step away," Sasuke said and looked at the grave.

Gaara said nothing to it. He was offered some sake and they drank in silence for a while. Then the redhead spoke up:

"I wouldn't mind having you as a Rokudaime. But if another one is chosen instead of you, I don't know how I will react. If it is someone who hates Naruto, I don't think I can hold the alliance."

"Don't worry; if it comes to that, I will take my things and, with Kakashi's help, drag Tsunade to Suna," Sasuke said reassuringly. "I can live with the heat."

Gaara smiled at that.

_Is seems like not quite everything is lost yet… Sora._

-o-

The group of odd people looked at each other in confusion. Sasuke looked away after a few moments and sighed; damn Tsunade for sending him out on a mission with others. He had told her he was a loner, damnit!

Kakashi sighed as well and wondered what he was needed for. He was really not in a mood to do a mission at all; he had not been ever since Iruka took his own life. The academy-teacher and Kakashi had been rather close thanks to Naruto, but then when the teen was banished it all shattered. Kakashi had kept his feelings inside, not telling whether he was happy or sad that the teen was gone.

Of course he had been afraid when he had seen Kyuubi in action, who would not be, but later when he reflected about it the demon had not tried to hurt them. He had simply directed all his anger and rage on the Akatsuki leader, and then withdrawn to leave Naruto in charge again. Most of the people had not seen that, they only assumed that Naruto could not control the demon.

When Iruka had died Kakashi knew the village had made a mistake banishing Naruto. He had told Tsunade as such, and she had only looked at him with grief-stricken eyes. Then she had said, _We can't undo the mistakes we've done, and we can't make Naruto forgive us_.

He knew that, and had therefore tried to do what he could to ease Tsunade's worries. He took whatever mission she gave him without any complaint, he stopped being late, and he found himself defending Naruto on several occasions.

He shook himself out of it when Tsunade entered the room. They all murmured their greetings and she greeted them before sitting down. She let her eyes roam over their faces.

To the very left was Sasuke, probably uncomfortable and pissed off at her; he was a loner after all. Next to him was Kakashi, subdued and looking off somewhere in space. Then there was Hinata, Sakura, Kiba, Lee and Ino. They simply looked confused.

"Listen up," she said and they snapped to attention. "I know you are aware of our economic situation at the moment. Therefore I will send you out as a team to capture some missing-nins that will bring us up."

They looked at her.

"No, I'm not joking," she said. "Kakashi, you will be the team-leader. On this scroll are ten missing-nins. I want you to try capturing at least one of them."

Kakashi accepted the scroll and opened it.

"These are all S-class," he said and looked at her.

"Yes," she said. "However, if you work as a team these people won't be a problem. You are to move out when you are ready and have decided who to choose. Kakashi, you will report to me who you have chosen before you leave."

"Understood, Hokage-sama."

"Good. Dismissed."

-o-

The guy they had chosen was from Mist and relied a lot on his Ninjutsu. They set out to find him two days later. Kakashi ran first, and slightly behind him was Sasuke. The others were a bit scattered out, not speaking. It was a long time since either of them had worked together on a mission.

After a while Sakura spoke up though:

"Kakashi, the information of the man; did it tell us his last known location?"

"Yes," the copy-nin replied. "Last time he was seen was a week ago in Wind Country. That is where we are heading and gather information along the way."

"Okay," she said. She slowed down a bit so she was running alongside Ino. Lee ran up to Kakashi and said:

"I heard that Tsunade-sama made another attempt… to find Neji and the others."

"Yes," the older man said and looked at the black-haired one. "It was futile; either they are dead or have hidden themselves too well."

"Why did they disappear?" Lee asked. "I know they were on Naruto's side but did they have to disappear because of it?"

"Maybe they felt they had to," Kakashi said shortly, not really wanting to talk about the past. "What's done is done. All we can hope is that they are alive and well, since we haven't heard anything about someone finding a dead Hyuuga, Aburame or Nara."

Lee looked down for a moment and then said something that shocked the older shinobi:

"We didn't appreciate Naruto as much as we should have, right? We let our fear get in the way. At least you, Tsunade-sama and Sasuke-san isn't that way."

The black-haired Jounin slowed down until he was running alongside Kiba, Kakashi staring back at him for a few moments. Then he had to focus to where he was running.

-o-

"Man, this is boring!"

"Don't complain."

"Shut up! I can complain if I want to!"

"But only as long as you are away from the village."

Three people walked down a dusty road, dressed in heavy, white hooded cloaks which covered their whole body and with white masks covering their faces. One of them was a woman, and the other two were men. The woman spoke up again, her voice calm and smooth:

"But going all this way… couldn't we have chosen anyone else?"

One of the men said:

"We are beginning with him, and then work our way up back home."

"That makes sense," she admitted, "but Onikage-sama said we shouldn't be gone for so long."

"Come on!" the other man said. "We can beat the crap outta them and move home within a few days!"

"Not with the pace we're going right now," the woman muttered.

They were an odd little group in the middle of Wind Country. The hot sun was glaring down at them but they seemed fine in their cloaks. One of them suddenly stopped and removed the mask. It was the woman. Her white eyes glared up at the sky for a moment, baring fangs between vermillion lips for a moment before looking down at the two. Her face was pale, so was the rest of her body.

"It's hot behind the mask," she complained. The gills on her throat flexed and green hair fell down in her eyes. She blew at the bangs irritably.

"Suck it up and deal with it, Yasha," one of the men said. "Although I guess we can remove them for a moment here."

He removed his mask as well and used it a bit as a fan. Black long hair framed his slightly tanned face, frosty blue eyes watching Yasha's attempts of getting the hair out of her face.

"It's so easy for you to say, Yokaze," the other man complained. "At least you look normal enough to not be attack every few seconds."

He removed his and yellow eyes glanced over at Yasha. The skin was pale as well, and he stuck out a snake-like tongue at Yokaze who was not fazed by it.

"True, but you can always use a Henge, Makai," Yokaze reminded.

The man did not reply. Yasha gave up and looked at them.

"Shall we continue?" she asked. "To where there isn't any sun."

"Looks like it's rather impossible at this location," Makai muttered.

They looked around. They were, after all, in a desert.

"Then let's get our asses moving," Yasha growled and pushed at their backs, making them go forward. "I ain't staying here longer than necessary!"

-o-

"Damn, how fast is this guy?"

The Konoha team was currently chasing their guy through the desert. It was late afternoon and it had taken them three days to find him. He had been hanging around in Wind Country longer than they expected but they sure would not complain about it.

Kakashi ran beforehand, hearing Kiba's frustrated yell. The man was fast. Really fast. It was almost like he was flying over the sand. He may not be good in Taijutsu but he had speed on his side.

"We have to attack simultaneously!" the copy-nin shouted.

"Understood!" the rest of the Konoha shinobis called out.

They ran up to him and spread out like a half-circle. The missing-nin looked behind himself and seemed to grit his teeth before turning back and trying to run faster.

"We're almost there!" Kakashi shouted. "Ready yourselves to attack!"

They all prepared, when something unexpected happened.

Between Sakura and Lee, a person in white cloak and white mask ran past them like it was nothing. They stared in shock as that person shouted out:

"Makai, take him out!" It was a woman's voice.

A much taller person ran past Sasuke and Kakashi and with a swift summoning technique brought a scythe out. He jumped up in the air and a third person dressed the same as the other two came up.

"Yasha, if Makai's attack fail you're up!" the person shouted.

"Got it!" she screamed and ran ahead. "Just make sure you got the transportation ready, Yokaze!"

Yokaze brought out a scroll and ran after Yasha. The Konoha team stared at the three.

Makai's scythe hit down just in front of the missing-nin, making him fall over. He got up and began to prepare a technique when Yasha ran up and kicked him square in the face. He fell to the ground and Makai picked him up on one shoulder. He dismissed the scythe and grabbed a hold of the much shorter Yasha. Yokaze jumped up in the air and the scroll spun around him and the three others. He made a seal and shouted:

"Transport!"

In the next moment, they were gone, leaving behind some very confused people.

-o-

"You failed?"

Tsunade looked at them in shock. Kakashi bowed his head and said:

"Yes… our target was taken."

"Taken?"

"Yes. We have no idea who they were; all we know what I think is their names. Yasha, Makai and Yokaze."

"Their faces?"

"Didn't see them, or any signs of what village they came from. They wore white masks and white cloaks."

Tsunade slumped back and looked at them.

"White masks and white cloaks?" she said. They nodded. "I'll try to find out who they are."

"What should we do about them?" Kiba asked.

"Nothing," she said. "These missing-nins were hunted by everyone. Someone just simply got before us."

-o-

"You should've seen their faces, Onikage-sama!"

The man behind the desk seemed to tilt his head, an amused smile on his face as he watched his people. Makai was laughing as he retold how the Konoha team looked, his snake-like tongue sticking out from time to time. Yasha was grinning widely as well but at least kept herself to their rapport… well, most of the time she did. Yokaze stood silent and filled in the report on a paper, serious as always. Purple eyes shifted over to the man and the gaze softened.

Yokaze noticed he was being stared on and looked up.

"Is there something wrong, Onikage-sama?" he asked.

"No," the man replied. He shook his black-red hair out of his face and when the bangs failed to cooperate he reached up a clawed hand and swept it away. It stubbornly fell back. Yokaze, without thinking, reached over and gently tucked the bangs behind one pointed ear. Makai and Yasha did not pay much attention to the tender move as they had seen it many times before. Yokaze was the one who made sure their Onikage had everything he needed, the one who never refused what the older man said. The black-haired man was the one who Onikage seemed to trust the most because Yokaze was one of the few who knew their Onikage's true name.

"So you met Konoha?" the Onikage said once Makai had finished.

"Yeah," Makai said. "They probably snapped up our names."

"That's quite alright," the man behind the desk said. "No damage done; they are bound to find out about us sooner or later. Is there anything else?"

"Don't think so," Yasha said and turned to Yokaze. "Did I and Makai miss anything?"

"If you did, it will be written down so Onikage-sama can read it later if he so wishes," the blue-eyed man said.

"You two are dismissed," the violet-eyed man said, smiling at the two. "Yokaze, a word."

The two bounced to the door and it opened soundlessly. As it closed Yokaze relaxed his posture and said:

"Is there something special, Sora-san?"

"No," Sora replied and looked at the young man he considered closer than a brother. Perhaps even like a son, despite the fact Yokaze was only ten years younger than him. "I felt a bit lonely."

"Why?" Yokaze said. "I was sure Mebana got tried of sitting by the desk outside and came in here for a chat once in a while."

"Of course, but…"

"But what?" Yokaze was slightly worried now; it had been a long time since the younger man had seen the troubled look on his saviour's face.

"Konoha…"

"They are not a threat to us," the younger man said firmly.

"Oh, I know that. Your encounter with Konoha; describe the people for me."

"They were seven in total. The apparent leader was a man with grey hair and the hitai-ate covering his left eye. He had a mask over his lower face. Next to him was a man with black and white clothing, black hair, a katana and seemingly strange red eyes. A pink-haired woman along with a pale-blonde one. Both dressed in standard Jounin outfits. A black-haired male with Jounin vest over some… spandex suit? It was green anyway. A wild-looking man with marks on his cheeks and a Jounin vest over a fur coat. And lastly a Hyuuga."

"Let's see then," Sora said and leaned back. His eyes closed. "Grey-haired one; Hatake Kakashi. Red eyes; Uchiha Sasuke. Pink-haired; Haruno Sakura. Pale blonde… must be Ino. Yamanaka Ino. Spandex guy… definitely Rock Lee. Guy with marks; Kiba. Can't be any other. Inuzuka Kiba. He didn't have a dog with him?"

"No," Yokaze said carefully.

"It's alright; just asking. The last one, a Hyuuga. Either Hinata or Hanabi. Were they all in the same age?"

"Roughly except for this Hatake Kakashi. He looked older."

"Then the Hyuuga was Hinata," the Onikage confirmed. "Well… those are faces I have not seen in a while."

The man reached to take a cup of forgotten tea from the desk but the cup shattered underneath his grip. Sora blinked. Yokaze sighed, grabbed the man's hand and examined it gently for any pieces. The hand was smooth and pale, his nails long and sharp. No cuts, no blood. Good. Yokaze never liked seeing Sora bleeding.

"I must be more upset than I thought," Sora said absently as his hand was released and he rose up. "Maybe I should clean this mess up."

He saved a few documents from the spilt tea and asked:

"When is Gaara coming?"

"Tomorrow," Yokaze said.

"I see."

Yokaze looked on as the man cleaned up, slightly worried.

"Are you still angry at Konoha, Sora-san?"

"Mildly I suppose," he replied. "Wouldn't you be?"

"I guess so."

-o-

Tsunade lowered the papers with a confused look. The group of seven people looked at her. She had told them she had found out who had taken the target from them. Kiba had wanted to beat them up just a bit but she had told him not to.

"Who is it then?" Kakashi finally asked.

"White cloaks and white masks are normal from the new Hidden Village created three years ago," Tsunade said and looked at them. "Have you ever heard anything about it?"

"No," they all replied.

"Well," she continued. "This village… is special."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked.

"It's called the Hidden Village of Blood," Tsunade said. "The shinobi and civilians living there are mostly demons and outcasts from other villages. Shortly said, a village supposedly filled with power and hatred."

Tbc…

* * *

_Yokaze - Night Wind_ as you already know

_Yasha - Female Demon_

_Makai - Hell_

_Onikage - Demon Shadow_

_Mebana - Female Flower_

Chapter two done! Yay!

Chapter three: Tsunade must get in contact with the village's Kage but have no idea where the village is or who the Kage is. The council is all for a war with that village, all until with the Kazekage comes with something rather shocking…

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	3. Chapter 3

**Hard to Forgive**

**Summary**: Banished from Konoha after an accident with Kyuubi, Naruto swears to come back too powerful to be brought down. Years pass with no sign. Until they hear a Hidden Village has risen, and its' residents are demons and outcasts. Will they find Naruto there?

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Strong!Naruto, Demon!Naruto, some people-bashing, blood, violence… maybe some more, I don't know.

**Disclaimers**: Does it look like I own Naruto? I didn't think so either…

-o-

Hello my readers! I'm happy that you like this story so far, and that you will continue to like it.

Many of you have asked if there are to be any pairings, and if it would be yaoi or straight. I have yet to decide any pairings, but as it stands now there will be no pairings at all. Maybe one or two included but nothing mayor. None of the main characters will have a lover (that is the plan in my head anyway).

Enjoy chapter three!

-o-

**UPDATED 2010-10-01**

-o-

**Chapter Three**

"Of course we must seek this village out!"

"Destroy them! Monsters the whole bunch; they are the ones who will try to destroy us first unless we act!"

"Monsters are not to be trusted!"

Tsunade was getting a headache, and from the pounding against her temples, it was going to be a bad one. She suppressed the urge to scream right out. She was in a meeting with the council, consisting of the elders of the clans, Sarutobi's former teammates and Danzou.

They were all currently screaming different things to her. Well, almost all of them. Aburame Shibi sat silent, probably preferring to be somewhere else. Ever since his son disappeared he had been quieter than usual and withdrawn. Same thing with Nara Shikaku; only he never showed up on these meetings. He simply sat at home during that time, only coming when Tsunade had a mission for him or demanded his presence at the meetings.

She massaged her temples and then shouted out:

"Shut the hell up!"

They did so, surprisingly. Normally they would have ignored her. She looked up at them, fire in her eyes and said:

"We don't know anything about this village yet. We don't even know where it is. First we will seek them out and I will meet with their leader. If they bear no ill intentions, then we will show them the same respect."

"You don't show monsters respect," Utatane Koharu said, her lips in a thin line.

"Well, I will and I will make the village do so as well," Tsunade snapped. "This meeting is over; get out!"

-o-

Tsunade wanted to bang her head against the table. How hard was it for these people to get it? She was not going to declare war against a village she had no idea where it was, what people existed there and who the leader was. They (_almost_ the whole council; she emphasized almost) had argued it was probably like Orochimaru's village, the Sound Village. She had after that thrown them out and placed an ANBU guard outside the office to get rid of them for a little while. Shibi was allowed to leave from the window sill, preferring not to walk down the same corridor of the screaming and arguing people. Not that she blamed him.

As for earlier, she did not like to be reminded of Orochimaru in any way, or even hear his name. The man had so far escaped all plans they had made to kill him, and was most likely sitting and laughing at them nowadays. Tsunade gritted her teeth and tried to concentrate on paperwork.

A few minutes later it knocked on the door. She looked up, irritated. She had told the ANBU she did not want to be disturbed!

The man opened the door and said:

"Tsunade-sama, Kazekage-sama is here to see you."

"Oh… show him in." Well, Gaara was different. He could disturb her all he wanted.

Gaara stepped through and closed the door.

"Have you done something to upset your council?" he asked curiously.

"I refused to let them open war against a new Hidden Village," she said.

"Oh? What village"

"Hidden Village of Blood," she said, gesturing to a thin map to her left. "That's all I can find about them."

"Isn't it rather rare that someone created a village for demons and outcasts?" Gaara said as he flipped through the map absently. It was more a challenge than a question.

"It's nice for those who are so called demons and outcasts," Tsunade replied as she signed another paper. "I said myself if they bear no ill intentions, we won't either."

"I guess that didn't go home with the rest."

"Are you kidding me? I thought I would go deaf with all the yelling."

"Is that so?" Gaara put down the map and looked at her. "What will you do?"

"First of all I will try to find where the village is and then I guess send some kind of message to the leader," she said and massaged her temples. "Then we'll see."

"Hidden Village of Blood…" Gaara mused, a small smile on his lips.

Somehow, Tsunade had the feeling he knew more than he said.

-o-

**Several days later**

A meeting yet again. At least Gaara was with her this time. The council members sat down and Danzou spoke up:

"Well, Tsunade-_hime_?" She hated how he mocked her by calling her that. "Have you found out where the village is so we can prepare for an attack?"

"There will be no attacking," she said. "If you don't follow that order, Danzou, I will have you killed."

The statement was cold, straight-forward and true. Danzou froze at the chilling tone and the look of utter hatred in her face. She would kill him if he did anything that she did not approve off.

"As you wish…" he mumbled out and looked away, angry. How dare she try to control him? He was not someone who would be controlled, but instead he should be the one ruling Konoha!

Tsunade, ignoring Danzou's fuming expression, looked at the others.

"We are not going to attack this village. Are we clear on that point?"

They all nodded.

"We are not to call them monsters or any other degrading names," she continued. "Understood?"

After some hesitation they all nodded.

"Good. Now… this is what I have found out."

Most of them leaned forward eagerly, her previous statements already forgotten. She sighed; they were hopeless. She should never have accepted becoming a Hokage. Nonetheless, she started speaking:

"The village is on an island called Death's Cliff. There is only one way for normal people to get there and that is with a boat that goes to Water Country four times a week. Most of the people on the island are fishermen, and from what I have found out they have nothing against to have a shinobi village at the island. In fact, they seem to like it since the money the village gets in they also share with the rest of the island."

"That doesn't say much," Inuzuka Tsume said.

"I still don't know what kind of leader they have…" Tsunade began.

Gaara got tired of the charade and spoke:

"They call him Onikage."

They all stared at the redheaded man. He had his arms crossed and looked at them before continuing:

"You speak of attacking them."

"Yes," Hyuuga Hiashi said. "They are not humans."

"They are as much human as everyone else," Gaara said. "It's their looks that are different."

"You have met them?" Tsunade asked, eyes wide.

"Yes," Gaara said and now they all stared at him once more.

"Why?" Hiashi demanded to know.

"Onikage invited me," Gaara said, amused by their reactions. "An alliance was created between us when the village was finished over three years ago, the last push Suna helped them with to get everything up and running. Attacking them will mean war against Suna."

"You are allied with a village with monsters?" Mitokado Homura ground out, glaring at him.

Gaara's temper flared but before they got any further it knocked on the door. Sarutobi Asuma opened the door, looked at them all in turns and then said, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder:

"Strange-looking guy wants to see Tsunade-sama. He said it was important."

All the ANBUs in the room tensed slightly. She waved at him and he stepped aside, allowing the 'strange-looking guy' in. Her mouth fell open.

A man dressed in a white cloak and white mask stepped inside. His movements were smooth, silent, like the wind. He bowed to her and spoke:

"Our great leader Onikage-sama has sent me, Yokaze, to bring you a message from him, Tsunade-hime."

Yokaze! One of the people who took the target from them. She barely managed to nod and Yokaze stepped forward. He brought his hands out, one of them holding scroll. He gave it to one of the ANBU who could check it over before giving it to Tsunade. He bowed once more to Gaara and said:

"Good evening, Kazekage-sama."

"Good evening, Yokaze," Gaara said. "Did Onikage-sama use you because of your technique?"

"If anything was to go wrong, I can disappear within an instant," Yokaze said. "That was why he chose me."

"Plus you are almost the only polite person against those who are above you," Gaara reminded.

Yokaze laughed softly and removed his mask. The council members sat on needles as the two spoke; Tsunade was busy reading what Onikage had written to her.

"I was saved when I was young," Yokaze said and tilted his head. "Many of our people had learned to hate those above them as they were old, while I was a mere child when Onikage-sama saved me. He taught me that hatred is not all that exists."

Gaara nodded and said:

"How is my brother fairing in your village?"

"Very well," Yokaze said with a smile. "The children enjoys when he fastens strings on Makai and make him a marionette."

"With Makai? I daresay my brother has a death-wish."

"Makai's bark is worse than his bite," Yokaze admitted. "At least when it comes to Kankuro-sama."

Tsunade had finished reading and looked up at Yokaze. He stood straighter and looked at her.

"He wishes to meet me," she spoke. "As our village is an ally to Suna we were also an ally to him."

"Onikage-sama prefers peace before war," Yokaze said. "He does not wish to become Konoha's enemy." _Hopefully_.

"He said to send a reply back with you with a date when he should arrive."

"Onikage-sama thought you would feel safer if he came than that you travelled to our island."_ Plus he wanted to see what had happened to this place._

She nodded absently and thought for a while.

"Is it too early to meet him in four days?" The council went white in horror. She was not suggesting letting the Onikage come here?

"Not at all, Tsunade-hime," Yokaze said. "He would be honoured to know you wish to meet him that soon." _The sooner the better._

"In four days then, around three in the afternoon," she said. "You can just ask for me once you arrive here at Hokage Tower."

"Understood. Is that all, Tsunade-hime?"

"Yes. You may leave."

Yokaze nodded and put his mask on. He turned to Gaara and said:

"I will see you later then, Kazekage-sama."

"Yes. Take care and send my regards to Onikage and Kankuro."

The man nodded and put his hands into a seal. Within a moment, he melted away into the background and then he was gone.

Tbc…

* * *

Shorter chapter but that's alright I guess.

Chapter four: Onikage comes to Konoha. He's going to the place he never wanted to return to… will he find out that some people actually miss him?

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	4. Chapter 4

**Hard to Forgive**

**Summary**: Banished from Konoha after an accident with Kyuubi, Naruto swears to come back too powerful to be brought down. Years pass with no sign. Until they hear a Hidden Village has risen, and its' residents are demons and outcasts. Will they find Naruto there?

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Strong!Naruto, Demon!Naruto, some people-bashing, blood, violence… maybe some more, I don't know.

**Disclaimers**: Does it look like I own Naruto? I didn't think so either…

-o-

Thanks for all the reviews, and I think it was time to let you know there will be no pairing in this fic. It's easier having no pairings in a story like this. Hope you enjoy chapter four!

-o-

**UPDATED 2010-10-01**

-o-

**Chapter Four**

"Are you out of your mind, Tsunade-sama? You are inviting the leader of that village to Konoha like it's nothing?"

Sakura could make a good imitating of any council members, Tsunade thought absently before she replied:

"No, I'm not out of my mind. I'm stretching out a hand to offer friendship, and I hope he will accept."

"This is crazy! With all the monsters in that village-!"

"Sakura, that's enough! Is this because you're still afraid? After fifteen years, you still follow the council's words like a lost puppy?"

Sakura blushed heavily and said:

"Naruto was a monster… he tried to hurt us!"

"No, he didn't. I was there, I saw it. I was freaking out, I admit that, but I had sense enough to see he didn't hurt us. Apparently I did not have sense enough later to tell the village to fuck off."

"But Tsunade-sama-"

"No but, no nothing. He will come, and you can't do anything about it. It's been fifteen years, Sakura; put your fears away and act like the Jounin you are!"

The pink-haired woman's lips thinned out in obvious anger but Tsunade did not get afraid. It had been years since she had felt any kind of fear.

"That look won't get you anywhere with me. Get out of my sight, Sakura."

The woman whirled around and slammed the door shut as she left. Tsunade raised an eyebrow and came to think of a snotty brat. With a sigh she went back to her paperwork.

-o-

Sora sat in deep thought as Mebana peeked inside.

"Onikage-sama," she chirped.

"Hmm?" he replied, slowly coming back to his office from his stray thoughts. He tapped his chin absently, not quite in the room just yet. She was not faced by it as she was used to the Onikage's all moods; this was nothing unusual. Instead she just continued to chirp:

"Team Betrayers are here to report."

"Send them in," he said, amused at her choice of words. She had started calling them that from the beginning, and now the three in the group did not even react. It was kind of true after all.

The three men stepped inside and he looked at them, finally completely back from his thoughts. He had a lot on his mind.

"Success or failure?" he asked them as they walked forward.

"Success," one of them replied, the apparent leader. "Sorry we're late, Sora."

"Nah, it's okay," Sora replied and waved his hand. "Take a seat. Anyone of you in need to medical attention?"

"No," they answered in chorus before they sat down.

It was three rather different people that sat before him. The leader had waist-long, black hair and a cloth around his eyes. His skin was pale and he was dressed in white combat-pants, white shoes and a white shirt. He had a sheathed katana strapped to his back, and three scrolls attached to his belt.

The one sitting to the right of the leader was slouched down a bit, looking bored. He had spiky, dark brown hair and black eyes. His skin was more normal-looking, a bit like Yokaze's and his clothing was all black. He had a big scroll he normally had resting on the small of his back but he had taken it off and let it rest against the chair he was sitting in.

The one to the left was quieter than the other two. His own dark brown hair fell over one of his eyes, the other one barely visible while the rest of the hair fell over his shoulders and down his back. The colour of the eyes seemed to shift all the time, which amused Sora to no ends. His skin was pale as well, and he was dressed in a red trench-coat, black shirt and pants underneath. He wore no kinds of weapons, and only one scroll attached to his belt.

The leader's name was Hijutsu, the one to the right Kageenja and the one to the left Konchuu.

"I'm going to Konoha," Sora said to them after a moment's silence.

"Why?" Hijutsu asked.

"I decided to see for myself if the village is the same as when I left it," the Onikage said. "If the people are the same. If they all treat me as a monster, then they have not changed and there will be nothing between our villages."

"I do hope you are bringing people with you," Kageenja said and looked at the purple-eyed man. "Wouldn't want you to be attacked by rabid citizens."

"I have decided on Yokaze, Kotou and you three."

"Yokaze and Kotou?" Hijutsu questioned.

"They act like gentlemen," Sora said. "Even among those who fears them. Others won't be able to holds their tongues, and I have no wish for that. If they are going to visit our village though… they say one ill word, and I will not stop my people to speak their opinion."

The three looked at each other and then at him.

"When are we leaving?" Konchuu asked quietly, speaking for the first time.

"In two days."

-o-

Tsunade was waiting by the main gate into the village, nervous. The council had objected her decision so she had decided to meet the Onikage and his people herself at the gate to ensure nothing would happen to her guests. Kakashi and Sasuke were by her side, as usual. The Chuunins watching the gate stood with them, nervous as well but for another reason. She was nervous because she did not know how to act, they were nervous because a possible demon was coming. Of course, that was according to what they had heard from the council.

"There they are," Kakashi said and pointed. "They are not in a hurry."

"How many?" Tsunade asked and the Chuunins grew more nervous and worried. She herself squinted and cursed her sight… or maybe it was just Kakashi had eyes like a hawk. Or rather, eye.

"Six I think," Sasuke said and squinted a bit to look. "Yes, it's six of them." Kakashi nodded in confirmation.

"Not more?" she mused. "Normally a Kage from a village is flanked by ANBUs twice that amount and then at least ten more people."

-o-

"Aah, it appears that Tsunade-hime is waiting for us," Yokaze said.

"How the hell do you know that?" Kageenja asked.

"The wind tells me it's her. She is not alone. The two with Sharingan eyes are there as well as a few Chuunins. They are called Chuunins, correct Onikage-sama?"

"Yes," Sora replied and looked ahead. "Kakashi and Sasuke… why are they with her?"

"We'll just have to see for ourselves," Hijutsu said. "I feel they have no ill intentions against us."

"But others…" Konchuu continued. "They are a mass of hatred combined with pathetic fear."

"Be on your guard," Onikage said. "Just because Tsunade maybe doesn't want to hurt us doesn't mean the others will stay away."

-o-

Tsunade stood up straighter once she got vision of the Onikage. Her eyes widened, as did the others.

He was tall, at least one head taller than Kakashi who was not short with his 181 centimetres. He also appeared to be thin but with strong muscles. He was dressed in black combat-pants and a fish-net shirt, over that a white robe. He wore no shoes. He was dressed rather normally; it was how he looked as a person that made them look at him in wonder or fear in the Chuunins' cases.

He had wild black-red hair that went down his shoulders and seemed to go down to around his waist, the tips chopped unevenly. From the wild nest two pointed ears stuck out. His eyes were purple and bore tattoos underneath each in the form of three red dots. His skin was pale, making him look unhealthy. They saw him talk with one of them, and noticed he had fangs in his mouth instead of normal teeth. He had clawed finger- and toenails, looking quite alike a demon.

But his smile was gentle and kind, and eased her worries. While he looked dangerous, he did not feel like it. The five people around him were unknown to her except for Yokaze; she had gotten a glimpse of his face last time. Now none of them were dressed in the white cloaks and masks and Tsunade as well as Sasuke and Kakashi could get a good look at them all.

Yokaze was wearing gray combat-pants along with some sandals. He had a tight, black T-shirt and a gray vest over that. He also had elbow-long, black gloves on with some metal strapping. On his belt was several scrolls fastened and he had a holster for kunais on his right leg.

The man walking next to Yokaze made Tsunade puzzled. He had white long hair, pale skin and disinterested half-lidded green eyes. He wore a white kimono of some sorts and had a katana strapped to the left hip. He should not fit in with the others but somehow he did.

One of the other three had a cloth wrapped around his eyes and long black hair. He was dressed in white. She thought she saw the hilt of a katana sticking out from behind his back. One of them walked behind the Onikage but appeared to have spiky, dark hair and dressed in black.

The last one walked before the others, having dark brown hair that fell unevenly around his face and down his shoulders. He was dressed in red and black.

"Tsunade-sama?" one of the Chuunins questioned warily.

"It's okay," she said. "Go back to your post."

She waited until they closed in and the leader for the Blood village discovered her. His purple eyes bore into hers; challenging her to look away and she stood her ground.

"Onikage-sama I presume," she said with a small bow. Kakashi and Sasuke followed her example.

"Tsunade-hime," his deep voice replied, saying her name in a way no one else had managed. It seemed like his voice held a sort of magic in it, making you listen to him. "An honour to meet one of the legendary Konoha Sannins."

"You know of me; I should be the one who is honoured," she said. "My companions are Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Sasuke."

"These are… what should I call you guys?" Onikage said and looked at the five.

"Protectors," the one behind the demon-like man snapped, looking at the leader irritably. Tsunade found it a bit amusing.

"Alright, let's go with that. My apparent protectors Kotou, Yokaze, Hijutsu, Kageenja and Konchuu."

They all nodded when he spoke their names. Kageenja glared at Sora due to the word 'apparent'. Onikage himself only looked amused.

"A pleasure to meet you all," Tsunade said and looked at them with a smile. "Shall we move to the Hokage Tower directly? I suggest we don't walk there though; this village has too many narrow-minded people I'm afraid."

"I can see that," Kotou said who shot a glare at one of the Chuunins a bit away. "Onikage-sama, I suggest we do as Tsunade-hime says."

The demon-like man looked around and saw someone giving him a glare a bit away from the gates. He bared his fangs, making the person shrink back in fear.

"Humans," he murmured and shook his head as if amused by the reaction of fear. "I will never succeed to fully understand them."

Tsunade looked at him when he said that, a bit curious. He saw it and continued:

"I'm not human as you can see. Demon blood flows in my veins, tainting my so called humanity."

"Please," she said, "you act nicer than most people I know so you can have whatever blood you want in those veins of yours. Follow me."

If the six from the Blood village were surprised, they hid it well. The three Konoha shinobi jumped up on a roof and looked behind to make sure they followed.

Yokaze was gliding in the air with Kotou by his side. Onikage made one jump and flew high up in the air before landing on a building and taking another jump. Chakra rippled through the air as he travelled. Kageenja, to their surprise, was nowhere to be seen. Hijutsu and Konchuu whirled out of view only to reappear again a bit further ahead. It looked like a sort of transportation technique although none of the Konoha shinobis could figure out what kind it was.

They came to the Tower and walked inside. Kageenja was still nowhere to be seen. Tsunade entered her office and sat down behind the desk. Onikage sat down and then raised a finger. He sent out a spark of chakra and shadows began to move on the ground. Kageenja slowly emerged from them and rose up.

"Kageenja is a bit of a lazy person, who says travelling short distances are troublesome," Onikage said with a faint smile. "He travels as my shadow; once I send the chakra out he knows he can come out."

Kageenja directed a half-hearted glare at his leader when he was called lazy but did not say anything. Onikage seemed to be more amused with Kageenja's reactions and glares rather than angry at the man because of it.

"As I have no idea what I should say or do at this moment," Tsunade said, hiding her smile when she watched them, "why don't you begin, Onikage-sama?"

The man thought for a little while, choosing his words. He looked straight at her and began:

"We both have an alliance with Suna but not each other. We three do not wish for a war, correct?"

She nodded; she had enough of war as it was.

"Then I suggest we ally with each other," Onikage said, "to ensure Suna must not choose side if it comes to that."

"I must let you know some things before that," Tsunade said. "For me, an alliance between us sounds ideal. But first you have to know what kind of village this one has turned out to be."

"Turned out?" he asked, puzzled. The five around him seemed to tense a bit. Kakashi and Sasuke looked uncomfortable.

"Thirty years ago this village was peaceful," she said. "All until the strongest Biju through time attacked, forcing our Yondaime to make a very hard decision."

"Oh?"

"He sealed the great demon into a child, dying in the process," she said and looked straight at Onikage. "That child grew up with these narrow-minded people, having no one to take care of him. I myself was not in the village; I had left it before that. Fifteen year ago, that was when I had been Godaime for around three years, something happened."

"What happened?" Onikage said, his insides in turmoil. Luckily Yokaze stood beside his chair; otherwise the older man would have done something he would most likely regret later.

"The child lost control of the Biju, and the Biju killed the leader of the former organisation Akatsuki."

Yokaze's eyes widened slightly; he had not heard Sora-san tell about it. But then again, Sora avoided Konoha as much as he could.

"The village wanted the child dead immediately," Tsunade said. "That's when I made a mistake."

"A mistake?" the demon-like man questioned, his heart beating faster.

"I let them banish him," she said and looked at a framed picture. She took it up and stared at it for a long time. She then gave it to Onikage and continued, "That's the child. Uzumaki Naruto. He was fourteen when I took that picture."

Yokaze looked at the picture in wonder. So that was how Sora-san looked before. Blonde hair, blue eyes, whisker marks. On this picture he stood with… it could not be… that man, that white hair and those marks in the face…

"The man on the picture is Jiraiya," the Hokage said, "an old friend of mine."

Yokaze's breath hitched as he looked at Sora. The man shot a warning glance at him and the raven-haired man quickly obeyed, sliding a mask of indifference over his face. Sora would explain later, Yokaze knew that. The man just needed time to gather the right words.

"An old friend?" Kotou asked. "Does it mean you don't see him anymore?"

"He had been away when Naruto was banished. He came back, heard the news and walked out of the gate. I haven't seen him since."

"You said your mistake was you let them banish this Naruto-san," Kageenja said and looked at her. "What makes you say that?"

"I see that child as a son," Tsunade said, massaging one of her temples. Talking about Naruto hurt a lot but she was not going to stop. "I have no children, will never have children except for that boy. And I made him hate me. After that day, my love for this village… was gone. A few of his friends disappeared as well; they could not stand it here I guess. I don't blame them."

"It sounds on you that many do not miss this child," Onikage spoke, finally giving the picture back.

"Not many did," she said bitterly and looked out as the sun began to sink down, leaving the sky in the colour of red and orange. "The only ones in this village who really does miss him I guess is me, Kakashi and Sasuke. There was one more. His name was Iruka. Umino Iruka."

"Was?" Onikage questioned.

"He's dead," Tsunade said shortly. Sora managed to hide his surprise at the news as Gaara had not told him. "Killed himself out of guilt. Now he's just another grave, another name fading away in everyone's minds. This is what happened to our village. Everyone here fears demons since that day fifteen years ago. I have no doubt they would try to attack you, Onikage-sama, just because you look like one."

The man sat silent for a long time.

"So?" he asked.

"What?" Tsunade was not sure she had heard right.

"It's not like I'm going to visit every day," he drawled out and looked at his sharp claws. "If I send Yokaze here, he can bring you to Death's Cliff within a moment. Besides, this village… gives me the creep."

"Welcome to the club," she said dryly, amused by his choice of words. "Although we are only three that feel that at the moment."

"Well, now you are a few more," Konchuu spoke. "I don't feel very well… being in this village."

"Let's go out for some air," she suggested. "We can discuss the alliance outside."

Instead of using the door, she opened a window and jumped out. The others followed. When they came to their final destination, the six outsiders looked around.

"A graveyard," Onikage said softly and rose up from his crouch.

"Sorry; we don't have any quieter place," Tsunade said. "And while I'm here I can pay some respect to Iruka's grave."

She moved forward, through the rows to get to Iruka's. While the others followed her, Onikage stayed behind. He looked around.

"What's up with Onikage-sama?" Kakashi asked the five people. They all stayed silent for a while before Hijutsu spoke up, clearly not talking to any of the shinobi of Konoha:

"His chakra… is sad again."

"That it is," Kageenja agreed quietly.

"Onikage-sama doesn't like seeing graves," Yokaze told Kakashi, Sasuke and Tsunade as they had stopped on their way to Iruka's grave. "Our own graveyard holds too many children… too many we couldn't save. Too many that became victims to the brutality of humans."

Onikage closed his eyes and took a deep breath. For a moment the two Sharingan-users could feel his chakra, and indeed it was laced with sadness and pain. Then he opened his eyes again and began to walk.

"They killed children?" Sasuke asked, both sad and angry at the same time.

"Of course," Yokaze said bitterly. "If Onikage-sama hadn't saved me, I would have been beaten to death when I was seven."

The three Konoha shinobi looked at Yokaze in horror.

"Which village was it?" Tsunade asked.

"I don't know," Yokaze said. "I don't remember, and I don't want to. All I need to remember is Onikage-sama and our village."

"Killing children," Tsunade said. "That isn't right. That's just sick."

"Fear makes people act irrational," Onikage said and she froze. Gaara had told her that not long ago, almost word for word. "But after a while, if the fear remains, it turns to hatred. Hatred turns into the need to kill what they fear, no matter how young or old that person is. Humans are so easily corrupted with emotions; it makes me rather sad."

"We don't appear to be very nice," Tsunade said, "when you put it that way."

"Not all humans are like that of course," he said. "You can change; I've seen it before. I'm glad that you are not like most humans, Tsunade-hime. I have taken a liking to you and your two friends."

"Should we be honoured?" she asked.

"If you wish to be," he said with a shrug. "Can't say why humans should be honoured to have a demon as a friend."

"Naruto was my friend," Sasuke said. "Although I acted like a jerk most of the time. But he didn't give up about me. He continued all until I began to call him friend in my head. He was in the same team as me; Kakashi was our teacher. I was told what had happened with Naruto; I was in a coma at the time. I learned about his demon inside of him, and I didn't think less of him. Maybe I thought higher of him, the strength he must have to be able to keep Kyuubi no Kitsune inside of him."

"Plus I think he made Kyuubi softer," Kakashi continued as he looked at them. They had reached Iruka's grave and Tsunade was currently brushing away the leaves from the grave.

"You think so?" Onikage said, his heart beating fast again. They did not hate him. They missed him. Tsunade, Kakashi, Sasuke… they really missed him. He wanted to show them, show them his village, his people; he wanted to tell them so badly… but could not. Not now. Not while he was in this village.

"If Kyuubi had been like normal, he would have attacked and killed us," the copy-nin said and scratched his head. "Yet the demon protected us; isn't that proof enough?"

Onikage smiled a bit at that and then Kakashi and Sasuke went to pay their respect to Iruka. The purple eyes strayed to the grave and then looked away. Yokaze placed a calming hand on his shoulder.

"I'm alright," Onikage reassured the five. "Just… thinking about things I rather not think about."

"Then stop thinking about them," Kageenja said, trying to refrain from cuffing his leader over the head. He was tempted though.

Suddenly a man entered and they grew alarmed. Tsunade looked back and said:

"Shikaku! It's been a long time since I saw you crawl out of your house!"

"Quiet," the Nara muttered and looked at the six. Tsunade rose up and introduced him.

"It's the Onikage-sama from Blood village and his companions Kotou, Yokaze, Konchuu, Hijutsu and Kageenja. Everyone, this is Nara Shikaku."

"Evening," Shikaku spoke without great enthusiasm. They nodded to the scarred man.

"What brings you here, Shikaku?" Tsunade asked.

"I don't know really," Shikaku said and scratched his head. "I was suffocating and here it's nice and quiet. I can leave if you wish."

"No, it's alright," Tsunade said. "What we are going to talk about will get known to the others soon enough."

"Will they like it?"

"Nope."

"Thought so," the man muttered. "Well, whatever you plan to do, tell me when you plan to tell them. I want to see their faces… although you can tell Shibi not to come."

"He's been at the meetings before," the Godaime said, looking confused.

"And does it look he's enjoying himself?"

"More like torturing himself," she muttered. "When will he stop blaming himself for his son's disappearance?"

"Same with me; never."

Sora looked at the two, back and forth, making a quite funny picture of pure confusion. Yokaze chuckled at the sight.

"Not quite following," Onikage said to Tsunade with tilted head. She found it rather cute, considering how dangerous he should look like.

"Oh. Sorry, Onikage-sama. I told you three of Naruto's friends disappeared; they disappeared around a year after him."

"Yes."

"Two of them were Nara Shikamaru, Shikaku's son and the other one Aburame Shino, son to Shibi."

"Oh…" the demon-like man said.

"The third one was Hyuuga Neji. He didn't have any parents, and Hiashi sure doesn't feel guilty about it."

"I can't blame them, the kids I mean," Shikaku said as he walked closer, hands in his pockets. He was dressed in simple dark grey pants and a grey shirt. His hair had begun to turn grey at the temples. "Naruto was a good kid, made Shikamaru laugh. Shikamaru felt much of the world was boring but when he was with Naruto something fun always happened. Hey, you. Your name was Kageenja?"

"Yes," said man replied, a bit apprehensive. Hijutsu tensed slightly, ready to protect his friend and teammate.

"Do you all have special names?" Shikaku asked and tilted his head, obviously curious.

"We have a tradition in our village," Kageenja said and looked at Onikage. He nodded and the man continued, "When we become villagers there, we begin a new life. And a new life isn't complete without a new name."

"So your names aren't your real ones?" Shikaku said.

"Correct," Kageenja said with a smirk. "Most of us don't even know other's former names. I have no idea of Kotou's real name, or of Yokaze's. Hijutsu and Konchuu I know but that's because I travelled with them for a little while before we came in contact with Onikage-sama."

"Is your name Onikage or what?" Shikaku asked the demon-like man.

"No," Onikage replied. "I have a friend who gave me my new name; it's from him the tradition comes from. You may call me Sora."

"Sora?"

"That's my name," Sora said. "Before my demon blood, I had blue eyes."

He rarely shared his secrets with anyone but felt that these people did deserve it. Shikaku looked a bit amused and then said:

"Well, I better get going if I want to have a nap before nightfall."

"Lazy Jounin," she muttered before realizing something. Onikage had described Kageenja as lazy and…

While the others chuckled at her comment she snuck a glance at first Shikaku and then Kageenja. It definitely was a resemblance between the two, however vague it might be.

Maybe… Kageenja was Shikamaru?

Tbc…

* * *

_Hijutsu - Secret Art_

_Kageenja - Shadow Speaker_

_Konchuu - Insect_

Chapter four done! Was I evil to stop there?

Anyway, chapter five: Now it's time for Tsunade to visit the Blood village. The alliance is done, and can't be undone by the council. However, they demand to pick out a group that will follow her and hopes they get to be in charge of the village while she's away. Will she let them?

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	5. Chapter 5

**Hard to Forgive**

**Summary**: Banished from Konoha after an accident with Kyuubi, Naruto swears to come back too powerful to be brought down. Years pass with no sign. Until they hear a Hidden Village has risen, and its' residents are demons and outcasts. Will they find Naruto there?

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Strong!Naruto, Demon!Naruto, some people-bashing, blood, violence… maybe some more, I don't know.

**Disclaimers**: Does it look like I own Naruto? I didn't think so either…

There are soooo many questions which means I'm good at hiding stuff! Yay! Alright, maybe not for you readers but most of your questions will be answered as we go along. No fun in telling what's going to happen, right? Don't worry; I think I will before the story ends answer all questions.

Many questions about where Kyuubi is… hmm… you surely want to know. But don't worry; all in due time (as usual when it comes to me).

For now, enjoy chapter five!

-o-

**UPDATED 2011-07-15**

-o-

**Chapter Five**

Tsunade never got a chance to investigate further about Kageenja, as the hours grew late and they had much to discuss. She knew she glanced far too many times on the lazy shinobi, each time finding him more and more like Shikamaru yet not. Who was he really? Who were they all? Their names were not their real ones, not even Sora had the name Sora from the beginning. They were all people who had been thrown out or left their villages because of something they could not help.

However, the Hokage could not help but grin quite evilly when Onikage and his companions had gone back home. Oh, she was going to have so much fun with the council now. She looked down at the scroll which they all had helped her to produce the formal text on. On it was the confirmation of their alliance, signed by her, Onikage, and their witnesses. Just to be safe, she had dragged Shikaku with her and forced him to sign. Onikage's five companions signed so she hunted down two more beside Shikaku, Kakashi and Sasuke. She came back dragging on Shizune and a very puzzled Shibi. They had signed as well, and now no one could change it except for herself and Onikage.

She wanted to laugh out loud; finally this village was going to make a turn-around! She was going to make sure of it! She had been motivated by Onikage to make this village a better place for children with difficult conditions or out-casts.

His eyes when he had looked around on the graveyard had been so full with sorrow as he must have remembered the graveyard in their own village. A graveyard with too many children buried… horrible. Absolutely horrible. Onikage was right on many things; humans feared things too easily. Most of them never thought things through; they just went through with it, not caring who they hurt. But that was going to change, at least in this village. She would not give up until she died. And that brought her back to the meeting she was going to have soon, despite the rather late hour.

Kakashi and Sasuke were slightly nervous hearing her evil cackle and slightly crazy eyes.

-o-

The council grumbled amongst each other and turned irritated eyes towards her. She looked at them all and finally one of them snapped:

"Did you meet the demon today?"

"First of all," Tsunade said, "anyone in this room who will call Onikage-sama a demon in my presence I will personally deal with, and after that I will be more than happy to hand you over to Ibiki."

_Ibiki_. Just the name scared them shitless. Maybe one of the few others she liked in this village beside Kakashi, Sasuke, Shikaku, Shibi and Shizune. He had not known Naruto very well, and therefore said he had no opinions about the child. Not once had Ibiki called Naruto monster or demon though, and Tsunade took that as a rather good sign.

As predicted, they paled.

"Everyone clear on that?" she asked cheerfully. They all nodded. "How good! Then I will move on to the main subject in this short meeting; an alliance between Blood Village and Konoha."

"Absolutely not!" several of them cried out.

"Actually, you don't have anything to say in this matter," she announced with a grin. "Since we already have an alliance with them."

"What?" almost all of them shouted. "When did that happen?"

Kakashi and Sasuke bit their cheeks to keep their laughter inside. Shikaku's shoulders were shaking, his head on the table. He was not very successful hiding his obvious amusement at their horrified faces. Shibi's chair was vacant; he preferred sleep over brief amusement.

"Oh, let me see," she said and pretended to think. She grinned wider and said, "Two hours ago I think. I am to visit their village in a few days."

"Then we demand to be allowed to pick out a group as your protection, and wonder who will be in charge of handling the village," Hyuuga Hiashi put in immediately.

"Shizune will be in charge," Tsunade said, "with the help of Ibiki and Shikaku. And no, you can't choose a group; I will do that on my own. Now this meeting is over, so I bid you a good night."

Her evil glint in her eyes told them that inwardly, she was laughing her head off at their expense.

-o-

"Brilliant Tsunade-sama but why do I have to be kinda in charge?" Shikaku asked.

"Because you need to cheer up," Tsunade said. "Besides, it will probably only be a day and a half, two days at the most."

"They gave me dirty looks as they left," the man whined.

"Stop acting like a baby and take the responsibility as a man," she said happily.

"You are unusually happy," Sasuke pointed out. Kakashi nodded.

"I know!" she chirped. "I have no idea why but meeting with Onikage-sama made me happy for some reason!"

"Why?" the three men asked, the only ones having stayed behind.

"Don't you realize?" she said. "If he has built up a whole village, Naruto might be there."

"But no one of them didn't seem to recognize Naruto," Sasuke said.

"Everyone changes their names," Tsunade said. "Maybe Naruto never told his own name and he may have changed his looks before coming there."

"You think he's alive?" Sasuke asked.

"I truly hope so," she murmured. She shook herself out of it and continued, "Well, we should start planning but not until tomorrow. Go home and have some rest; I have to pick out a group."

"Can't you just take an ANBU team?" the raven-haired man asked.

"I want to have normal Jounins," she said. "And not too many."

"Good Jounins are those who fear demons the most," Sasuke pointed out. He did not need to mention some of the best Jounins were in the same age as Naruto had been when he was banned, and they all had vivid memories of Naruto in Kyuubi-form.

"Then I have to take those the least scared," Tsunade said. "Like Hinata."

"That's one," Kakashi concluded.

"What, are you going to stay until I have picked a group?" she asked.

"That's exactly what we are going to do," the three men said and sat down.

-o-

"Onikage-sama?"

Sora looked up from the scroll he was reading to see Kageenja. The man fidgeted, and Onikage frowned.

"What's wrong?" Sora asked. Kageenja looked away a bit, causing Sora to frown deeper and patting on the floor beside him, saying silently the man should sit down. Kageenja came and sat down. The purple-eyed man was a bit worried; it was rare for anyone of his people to come in the middle of the night to his home nowadays. Before, they came in groups and often stayed in the same room as their leader. More than once had Onikage had a person asleep in his lap, and it was no child he had been comforting. But now the fear had settled down, and the visits had slowed down as they began to realize their new lives were working, no one came and tried to destroy it.

"Today… in Konoha…" Kageenja struggled to find words. His hands were fisted, and he was fighting against the emotions he normally locked away. It had been a very stressful day today for Kageenja.

"I know," Sora said soothingly, rubbing the man's shoulder. "I know."

Kageenja leaned his head onto Onikage's shoulder and they were silent for a few minutes, the scroll lying forgotten next to the demon-looking man. The brunette finally looked at his leader and then promptly lay down.

"I see you are staying for the night," Onikage said with a somewhat amused but gentle smile.

"You can't move me," Kageenja declared, quickly snuggling up on his leader's thigh. Sora only picked up the scroll again and continued reading.

-o-

Sora shook his head as he finished his reading and looked down. Kageenja had fallen asleep but the floor was uncomfortable to sleep on, and Onikage was not going to sleep sitting up. The demon-like man rose up carefully, moving Kageenja's head from his thigh and placing it on the floor before checking if the other man was in enough deep sleep. Concluding he was, Sora gently picked the man up and carried him the short distance to one of the guestrooms. He placed Kageenja on the futon and spread the covers over the man. That finished he got up and closed the door. He hesitated as he reached his own door. Sora turned around and went to one of the other rooms. He peeked inside and smiled as he saw the small lump moving around on the bed. Satisfied, he went to his own bedroom and closed the door.

He lay down on his own futon and soon fell asleep to the faint sound of rain hitting the roof.

-o-

Tsunade looked at the group she had scraped together; Hinata, Ino, Lee, Tenten and Konohamaru. They were the least afraid of demons after Naruto. And of course Kakashi and Sasuke would travel with her; she rarely left Konoha without one, or both of them.

"You all know what I want of you," she said. "All you have to say is yes or no."

"I'll go," Hinata said immediately.

"Me too," Ino continued.

Tenten and Lee nodded. Konohamaru looked at her and said:

"Is there a chance… that Naruto is there?"

"We don't know," Tsunade told him. "One might hope."

"Well, I'm going too," he said.

"Thank you," she said to the five of them. "We are leaving tomorrow at eight in the morning from the roof on top of this building. Yokaze, one of Onikage-sama's men, are meeting us there to take us to the village."

"Shouldn't we take the normal route?" Tenten asked.

"Apparently Yokaze can bring us all there in a matter of moments," Tsunade said. "Onikage-sama said it might be a bit faster than a three-day journey."

"In a matter of a few moments?" Tenten said, eyes wide. "Cool."

"That's apparently how Gaara travels there," Tsunade continued. "He will be coming with us as well."

They all nodded and she dismissed them, wondering what the next day would bring.

-o-

They all waited on the roof five minutes to eight. Gaara looked out over the village, not speaking. The five Jounins were talking quietly with each other while the two Sharingan-users stood silent. Tsunade sat on the ground, trying to bring the stiffness from her body out. She was no longer young and the fact irritated her a bit.

Suddenly a wind appeared and when it left Yokaze stood there. He looked around and said quietly:

"Good morning. Are everyone here?"

"Yes," Tsunade said and rose up. "We better get going then."

Yokaze nodded and said:

"If you all grab a hold of me. Preferably on my shoulders."

They did so although it was a tight fit. He looked around to make sure everyone was there and then made a sign. A scroll went up in the air and swirled around them.

"Transport!" he shouted out.

They felt a sensation of floating but they could not see anything clearly. And as quickly they had started, it was finished.

"Before we enter I would like to say a few words," Yokaze said as they looked around. They were no longer in Konoha but on a dirt road with vast plains on either side to sum up with mountains further away. "The village is over that hill but Onikage-sama said I should warn you."

Warn them. That did not sound good. Everyone, except for Gaara who already knew the rules, listened to him.

"First of all, once you enter our village you are at our mercy," Yokaze said. "We do not fear to let newcomers know what we feel about their way of talking to us. So no name-calling or degrading observations as most of the people in our village will see you as an enemy if you do."

They all nodded.

"Second, most of the people in the village look different," Yokaze said. "I was lucky to appear as normal while my abilities are not. Most of the others look like Onikage-sama; features they have no control over. They do not wish to be stared at. Remember that."

Once again, they nodded.

"And thirdly. Since our village is rather new, not all locations are permanent yet," Yokaze said. "We have caught the young ones more than once practicing kunai throwing in the middle of the street. If you are attacked, look before the attacker before you decide to throw it back. Your attacker might be a child who missed its target."

They nodded for the third time. He looked at them and said with a faint smile:

"I think you will do fine. However, if it had been one of those elders I met when I came for the first time, I might have considered skipping the warnings and letting them be killed."

They stared at him at his bold statement and Gaara sighed.

"One day you are going to get in trouble for that," the redhead said and Yokaze turned to smile at him.

"Then that day will come, and I will fight," the man said. "I was taught never to lie."

"You are bit too good about telling the truth," Gaara deadpanned.

-o-

The Konoha shinobis stared as they saw the gate to the village. It was bigger than Konoha's and painted pitch black. The walls ran higher up than in Konoha and were blood red.

"We are a bit paranoid," Yokaze said as they walked towards the gate. "We like things high because it gives us the security that people has to work a bit to get inside."

As they came closer, one of the people jumped down, most likely a guard. The Konoha shinobis took a second look, just to be sure of what they saw.

The man looked normal enough if not for the tattoos covering his body. He was dressed in a pair of pants and a fur-vest. He held a spear in his hands, not looking too friendly.

"Yokaze," he greeted. "Kazekage-sama."

He then jerked his chin towards the others and continued:

"Onikage-sama's guests?"

"Good morning, Mouko(1)," Yokaze said. "Yes, it's his guests."

Mouko nodded and waved his hand towards someone up on the wall. They saw a woman nod and shout something out. A second later, the gate opened.

The Konoha shinobis stepped into a village not too unlike their own. The main street brought them directly to what they suspected was the tower for the Onikage but it was far away. It seemed like the whole village surrounded the tower.

"Onikage-sama felt we didn't need to give him a whole building," Yokaze said as they began to walk inside. "He was perfectly fine working from his own house, but in that matter we won."

"He seems to be a very nice man," Tenten said as she looked around.

"He is," the raven-haired man said. "It's just that many can't see past his looks."

They saw people on the street staring at them and did their best to not stare back. Many of them looked different as Yokaze had mentioned.

"Oi, Yokaze!"

They all turned to see a woman with green hair walk towards them. As the hair was up in a ponytail they saw gills on her throat that flexed once in a while. Her eyes were white and her skin pale. She licked her vermillion lips.

"Yasha," Yokaze greeted.

"You seen Makai around?" she asked before glancing over at them. As she noticed they only eyed her curiously, she allowed them to look.

"No. I just arrived. Has he escaped your clutches?"

"More or less," she growled. "That man… he was supposed to rapport to Onikage-sama, that's why I'm looking for him."

"Use a tracking jutsu," Yokaze said. "Didn't Konchuu teach you it?"

She smacked her forehead and growled.

"That's it!" she declared. "It's official; I'm an idiot!"

Yokaze shook his head in amusement and said:

"Try it, and if you can't find him let Onikage-sama deal with him."

"Only problem is Onikage-sama lets him off the hook too easily," Yasha moaned. "Onikage-sama is too soft on people!"

The Konoha shinobis watched Yokaze to see his reaction. Tsunade knew Sasuke and Kakashi could react rather strongly if someone said she was too easy on people. To their surprise, he only laughed softly and said:

"Onikage-sama does not believe that punishment will make Makai better."

"True," she muttered. "Well then, don't wanna keep you any longer. But beware; Meikon(2) is just ahead."

"I will be careful," Yokaze said.

As they continued walking Tsunade could not help but ask:

"Who is Meikon?"

"He's a rather aggressive man," Yokaze said softly. "His past is not up for discussion, and the only one he obeys is Onikage-sama."

They left it at that.

-o-

They did meet Meikon. He was a tall and thin man with glowing eyes and wild red hair. He glared at them and they noticed Yokaze did not try to make him stop. Maybe the man knew it would be no idea.

"Yokaze," the man suddenly said and the raven-haired man looked over at Meikon politely. "Who are they?"

"Guests to Onikage-sama," Yokaze replied, choosing his words carefully as his words would matter greatly. "He requested their presence."

"Did you transport them here?" he continued, as if wary for them. As soon as he caught one of their eyes, he looked away.

"Yes, I did," Yokaze said. He looked confused. "Is something wrong, Meikon-san?"

Meikon did not reply. He looked at them once more and then jumped up on a roof before disappearing. Yokaze let out a sigh and said:

"Well, at least he didn't try to tear my throat open like last time."

They stared at him, even Gaara.

"As I mentioned, rather aggressive," Yokaze said. "I hope he will leave you alone now when he knows Onikage-sama wanted you here. He does not like what we call pure humans, you with no strange abilities or looks, but knowing you are here because of Onikage-sama he will most likely leave us alone."

They had almost reached the tower when suddenly Hinata felt a pull on her leg. She stopped and turned around, therefore making the others stop as well.

A girl, maybe four or five years old, stared up at her. Fuzzy fox ears stuck up on either side of the girl's head, out of the brown hair, making her look adorable. The girl was dressed in a blue dress and they could see a fox's tail sticking out in the back. Hinata blinked before kneeling down.

"Onee-san has pretty eyes," the girl said, touching the woman's face.

"And you have pretty eyes as well," Hinata replied as she smiled. It was true. They were blue… almost the same blue as Naruto's eyes.

The girl giggled at the praise, the fox swinging a bit and said:

"Ne, where are you going, onee-san?"

"We are going to visit Onikage-sama," she replied and looked back at Yokaze. The girl apparently discovered him and then the rest. To their surprise, her eyes widened as she saw Gaara and she shouted:

"Gaara-jisan!"

She ran up to him and hugged his legs tightly. Gaara fought with his balance for a moment before gently prying her arms away so he could lift her up.

"Strong as ever, just like your dad," Gaara said to her. "Right, Enkai(3)?"

She giggled. The Konoha shinobis were surprised when Gaara did not let her go but did not complain. They finally reached the tower and entered. They went up four flights of stairs before coming to where the Onikage was. A young woman sat on a desk outside the room.

"Hello Mebana," Yokaze said.

She looked up at them and waved absently before yawning. She had fangs in her mouth. Her nails were sharp and she had faint marks of scars around her throat. No one wanted to know the reason.

"He's waiting," she said, brushing her pale blonde hair out of her brown eyes. "Hello, Enkai-chan. Promise to be a good girl?"

"I'm always a good girl!" Enkai objected.

"I'm sure you are," Gaara said as he pushed the door open. "Just be aware we might have to send her out to you, Mebana-san."

"That's alright," Mebana said, waving her hand up and down absently.

They entered the office and stared. It was long with high windows, allowing in as much as light as possible. The Onikage's desk was at the far end, and in front was chairs for them all. The Onikage raised his head from whatever scroll he was reading and said:

"Good morning. Your journey was safe?"

"Yes," they all chorused.

Then he saw the squirming girl in Gaara's arms and smiled. He rose up from his chair and rounded the desk. He was dressed in black combat pants and a black vest with dark orange lining, his bare feet making no sounds as he walked. They noted now the girl was bare footed as well when Gaara let her down. To their immense surprise she ran up to the Onikage and cried out:

"Daddy!"

Sora caught his daughter and swung her up. The Konoha shinobis widened their eyes; he was a leader and a father at the same time?

Enkai seemed to want to smother him with kisses and hugs but Sora only laughed. He placed the bouncing girl on his hip and motioned to them to sit down.

"I did not know you had a daughter," Tsunade said carefully.

"Actually, she isn't really mine," Onikage said as he sat down. "I found her when she was a few days old. Her mother… was able to turn into a fox. She had been killed."

Enkai looked up at her father and said:

"Daddy, what's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong," Sora said.

"Daddy lying. I can feel your chakra change," she said with a pout.

"I'm fine, you worry-girl," Onikage said. "Unfortunately we are going to be boring adults and talk about subjects that no doubt will make you fall asleep. How about you go out to Mebana?"

Enkai considered this, having apparently resumed her serious thinking-position which only served to make her look even cuter. Finally she shone up brightly and said:

"And can me and Mebana go and say hello to Mekura(4)-san?"

"Of course you can," Sora said and let her down. "Just don't annoy him too much."

She seemed slightly disappointed over that before she bounced out of the room. Sora looked up at them and said first:

"Your brother is probably off harassing Makai, Gaara-san, hence the reason why Makai isn't here to rapport."

"Figures," Gaara said. "Only Kankuro would be stupid enough to mess with Makai."

Sora's mouth twitched in amusement.

"How is Mekura doing?" Gaara continued.

"Aah, grumpy as usual. His vision is completely gone," Sora said. "Finally I can sneak up on him, although he doesn't get very scared."

"When does that man ever get scared?" Gaara muttered and the Konoha shinobis wondered who they were talking about.

"True," Onikage agreed. "Yokaze, did you bring them here directly?"

"Yes," the man said.

"Hmm… we should probably go on a sort of tour I guess," Sora said and looked outside. "Would you like that?"

Tsunade nodded and said:

"It seems like an interesting village."

"Oh, we have only the usual," Sora said and waved his hand before getting up.

"Does the village have a council that helps you decide on things?" Tsunade asked the Onikage as they moved out into the morning sun.

"No," Onikage said. "I know most villages have, but in order to make my people trust me I take the decisions on my own. I can get advice on how to proceed but in the end it's my word that is law."

They did not comment on that although they felt it was a bit weird. Sora had taken a route that seemed to bring them to a small mountain. The village seemed to be built at the foot of it.

"You can see our village best from there," he said and pointed towards the cliff. "It offers a good view of the whole island actually."

They exited another gate and began walking upwards. It was a rather steep way up and they got tired easily. Yokaze and Sora appeared to be unfazed. Sora's feet dug into the soft earth yet when he continued his footsteps in the earth seemed to disappear completely.

They reached the top of the mountain where the villagers had built a platform on. A few guards stood there and watched them warily. But as they were in their leader's company, the guards soon relaxed.

Sora looked over the village as the Konoha shinobis took a chance to recover their breath before taking a look themselves. Konohamaru looked nervously at the Onikage but Tsunade had already told him the man did not recognize Naruto's name or looks. He sighed in defeat and decided to take in the beautiful picture of the village. They all had a feeling they almost was looking over Konoha from the heads of the former Hokages.

Sora looked around the village as well, his head leaning into one of his hands when he saw three of his people fighting. He narrowed his eyes; they often had mock-fights with each other but this one appeared not to be one.

"Onikage-sama," Tenten said. "I think someone is fighting down there."

Sora sighed and turned to Yokaze.

"Stay here," he ordered the younger man. "No one harms my guests. I'll be back in a few minutes… hopefully."

He jumped down from the platform and with one big chakra-forced leap he was back in the village again. He saw the fighting and ran forward.

It was Meikon who was being beaten to the ground by Rokujou(5) and Ikari(6). Those two were a hassle to handle but they did not pick a fight with Meikon for fun. Nonetheless, he had to stop them. Ikari was violent, and even he would be foolish enough to attack Meikon without thinking of the outcome; mainly, Meikon coming back and killing him.

He tore the two away from Meikon and threw them away. Each of them crashed into the ground and immediately a crowd gathered. They were all uncertain of who to help of the three when Onikage spoke:

"Rokujou, Ikari, your reasons for trying to kill Meikon?"

The two had the grace to look ashamed. Sora kneeled down and gently took Meikon's face in his clawed hands. The glowing-eyed man looked at him, one hand grasping Sora's left wrist weakly.

"Speak!" Onikage roared.

"He deserved it!" Ikari shouted. He was a tall man and strong, although bony. His fierce red eyes shone in hatred, making him proud of his name. His wild blue hair was matted in Meikon's blood. "He always deserves it!"

Within a moment, Sora came forward and hauled Ikari up. In the next moment, Ikari coughed blood as the leader had punched him in the stomach, hard. He dragged the man's face close and all but growled:

"He didn't do anything, right? You just had to release some of that fucking steam of yours? Rokujou just follows with you, knowing that with you he gets to take out his anger on someone else."

Ikari's eyes showed fear. Sora released the grip lightly and continued, his tone softer:

"Why do you have to hurt people all the time? They don't always deserve it."

Ikari tried to come up with something, anything, when the Onikage released him and said:

"Don't speak, Ikari. I have to make sure Meikon is alright."

The man turned his back to the red-eyed one who lost all composure he had. He fell to his knees and tried to fight against the tears. The tone Sora used was worse than any shouting or beating he had to endure during his life; the sound of a disappointed leader. A leader he looked up at in outmost respect was disappointed in him.

Sora lifted Meikon gently and was soon on his way onto the hospital. Ikari had to learn restraint, and if he had to hurt the man emotionally Sora would do it.

-o-

The Onikage came back a bit later and met the Konoha shinobis. Yokaze looked at his bloodied arms and said:

"What happened?"

"Ikari that fool," Sora said and sat down. "He flipped out again."

The man shook his head sadly before staring at the blood.

"Did you hurt him or what?" Tsunade asked.

"No… the blood is Meikon's. Ikari attacked him," Onikage said.

"Shouldn't you be dealing with this Ikari's punishment then?" Konohamaru asked with wide eyes. "He tried to kill someone!"

"Our laws are different," Sora replied tonelessly.

"So you're going to let him be?" Tsunade almost shouted, eyes wide. Gaara looked at her and said:

"Be quiet. Their laws are their laws."

"Well, the Onikage is going to let a violent man walk free," Tenten said, outraged.

Sora washed his arms free from the blood and then dragged his fingers through his hair.

"Onikage-sama," Yokaze said, sensing the man was getting weary. And it was only morning…

Sora looked at the arguing Konoha shinobis and Gaara and then rose up.

"Yokaze," he said. The Konoha shinobis and Gaara quieted to listen what he had to say. The black-haired man listened. "Send a message to _him_. I'm sick of having to deal with Ikari's foolishness; _he_ knows what to do. Then go and tell Ikari to see me tomorrow morning. It's his last chance."

"What will happen if he doesn't grasp the last chance?" Tsunade said.

"Then I'll simply have to kill him," Sora said and looked away. "Ikari knows that. Yet he seems so uncaring about life. I wonder what I did wrong with that boy."

"What happened to him was not your fault," Yokaze said. "His hatred is because of that human."

_That human?_ The Konoha shinobis wondered who. To their horror, the Onikage's eyes darkened and he growled out:

"Fucking Orochimaru… his death belongs to me. Too many lives he's already destroyed. He has created too many people like Ikari."

They all drew their breaths. Tsunade stared. Even this village had suffered her old teammate's evilness and greediness for immortality. Sora rubbed his face and continued:

"This seems like not the best welcome to our village, but I can't offer anything else, Tsunade-hime. I must be going to make sure Ikari won't do anything foolish today. Yokaze, show them where they can stay and make sure they have what they need."

"Understood, Onikage-sama," Yokaze said, looking worriedly at Sora. "I will send the message as soon as I can. What will you do?"

"Talk to Mekura and Hijutsu about Ikari," Sora replied. "I'm not having another event like what happened just now."

"You're going to seal Ikari away?" Yokaze said with wide eyes.

"Seal his powers _temporary_," Onikage corrected, stressing on the word temporary. "He's probably regretting what he did already but I have to make him understand."

"Sealing his powers away will fuel his hatred," the black-haired man said, ignoring their guests who were now staring at them. "He will try to kill you, Onikage-sama!"

"Many have tried," Sora said tiredly. "None has succeeded. Why should he be any different? No more talking, go now."

Tsunade and her group of people followed Yokaze silently. Gaara stayed behind with Onikage. Sora sighed heavily, flopped down onto the ground and Gaara sat down next to him.

"You're sending him to Jiraiya aren't you?" Gaara asked.

"Ikari has a strange liking with Jiraiya," Sora objected. "And Jiraiya doesn't want him dead. At least when Ikari is with him, he can relax."

"I'm not saying it's a bad suggestion. Actually it's a good suggestion, and I'm glad you're doing it. How is Meikon?"

"He's fine," Onikage said. "He wasn't even all that mad at Ikari. Figured he had probably said something that made it snap with the guy. They both have such short temper."

"For being such an aggressive man, Meikon has a kind side. Or at least he can ignore people's anger."

"He gets that way with me," the wild-haired man said and looked at the sky.

"You are Meikon's hero, in his own little way," Gaara said.

"Gaara, I'm everybody's hero," Sora said with a light smile. "I gave them new life."

"Yokaze see you as his saviour, Enkai as her father," Gaara said. "To Meikon you are a hero, and for Ikari you took away his pain."

Sora closed his eyes and the guards looked at them worriedly. Gaara waved away them, and they nodded before turning away. As long as Gaara was there, their Onikage would be safe. The redheaded man slowly laid an arm around the Onikage and Sora relaxed. His head landed on the man's shoulder and Sora said:

"Being a kage is hard job."

"You've done far too much to give up now," Gaara said. "You always tackle the problems head-on; why the change?"

"I don't know," Sora said. "I'm just so tired of seeing people getting hurt by Ikari… I know it's not his fault, he's half-crazy thanks to Orochimaru but still… it seems whatever I say to him is gone the next day."

"I know," Gaara said quietly. "I know."

-o-

Mekura sniffed the air and said:

"Sora, what is it now? I can smell blood on you."

Onikage stepped up to the man and looked at him silently. His black hair reached his elbows, currently put up in a ponytail and his black eyes stared unseeingly in front of him. He was dressed in dark grey combat pants, combat-sandals and a black long-sleeved neck shirt. A black cloak was draped across his lap.

"Sora?"

"I need your help," Onikage said. Mekura blinked.

"Why?"

"Ikari… it's his last chance, and until Jiraiya comes and gets him I want him restrained."

"So you want my sealing-powers?"

"If you wish to lend them out."

"I can't seal Ikari alone."

"I know. That's why you're going to work with Hijutsu."

Mekura stood up and draped the cloak over his shoulders. He took three steps forward before reaching out and laying a hand on Sora's shoulder.

"You seem tired," Mekura pointed out.

"I am," Sora replied. "Ikari does that to me."

"It's not his fault."

"I know. I hope he will be better when he comes back. I don't want him dead."

"I know you don't want to," the man said. He looked only to be a few years older than Sora. "Now, shall we go?"

Sora reached out and pulled the hood over the man's face.

"Why?" Mekura asked.

"Konoha," Sora answered and the black-haired man stiffened. "It's alright; I won't let them see you."

They then began to walk, Mekura holding one of his hands on Sora's arm.

-o-

Tsunade took a sip of her tea as Tenten angrily cleaned her weapons. The woman was still mad about the village's laws and so did the others seem. They just did not radiate the same anger as Tenten did.

"We are in an alliance with them," Tsunade suddenly said and they all looked at her. "We simply have to respect their laws."

"Their laws are inhuman!" Tenten said.

"Well, they call themselves monsters," Tsunade pointed out.

"It's not right," the woman continued.

"Their laws seem a bit brutal," Hinata softly said. "But I guess they have reason for it."

"What? Have reason?" Tenten asked. "What kind of reason?"

"Well," the woman said and looked away. "Onikage-sama probably has reasons to act like he does."

"Still, he seems rather brutal," Lee said. "Saying he will kill one of his own villagers… not punishing a man who tries to kill someone…"

"Who is the man Onikage wanted to send Ikari to?" Tenten wondered. "Someone important probably, since he gets to deal with a man like Ikari…"

Tsunade said nothing. She closed her eyes; this was getting out of hand. Tenten was upset over the laws, they all were, but she should know by now to respect other village's laws when they were allied with said village.

Suddenly it knocked on the door. Kakashi opened and outside stood someone they did not know. His yellow eyes watched them all in turn, pale face looking white in the bad light of the corridor. He was dressed in grey clothing.

"Onikage-sama asked after one Uchiha Sasuke," the man said and looked around the room. They all tensed. "Onikage-sama said he had someone who wished to see Uchiha-san."

"I'm Uchiha Sasuke," Sasuke said and stepped forward. "Who is the person?"

"We don't say his name aloud in case of a wrong person listening," the man said. "Come."

"Who are you?" Sasuke asked as he stepped out of the room. The man slammed the door shut in front of the other Konoha shinobis, grinned at Sasuke and stuck out a snake-like tongue.

"Call me Makai," the man said. "This way."

-o-

Sasuke closed the door after himself and looked around nervously. He was without any back-up and hoped Onikage would not let anyone attack him.

Sora looked up and smiled lightly at him. A hooded person turned its head towards the Sharingan user.

"Sit down," Sora said softly and waved at a chair. "Don't worry; he won't bite you."

"Fuck off, Sora," the hooded person said. It was a man. Sasuke gulped and sat down while wondering what Sora would do in response to the rude comment.

Sora laughed only though and said:

"Kind as always, Mekura."

Mekura? The blind man Gaara and Onikage had spoken of earlier. Sasuke looked at them both in turn and then said:

"You wished to see me, Mekura-san?"

"Yes, but first you must promise to not tell anyone, not even Tsunade-hime, of who I really am," Mekura said. Sasuke sat up straighter, looking at the man sharply. Onikage was already engrossed in some scroll, seemingly having forgotten the two. "Our real names are forgotten, dead, buried in the ground, gone and I will only say who I was once, and that will be to you."

Sasuke looked intently at the man. Pale hands removed the hood, and the Sharingan-user saw someone he did not expect at all.

Tbc…

* * *

(1) Fierce Tiger

(2) Dark Soul

(3) Ocean

(4) Blind Man

(5) Anger

(6) Hatred

Chapter five done! Like it?

Chapter six: The return to Konoha, Sasuke acting a bit weird and Orochimaru's new plan to get a Sharingan user… he wants Uchiha Itachi and Konoha are to decide if they should find the former Konoha shinobi and get him to safety.

Look forward to it!

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	6. Chapter 6

**Hard to Forgive**

**Summary**: Banished from Konoha after an accident with Kyuubi, Naruto swears to come back too powerful to be brought down. Years pass with no sign. Until they hear a Hidden Village has risen, and its' residents are demons and outcasts. Will they find Naruto there?

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Strong!Naruto, Demon!Naruto, some people-bashing, blood, violence… maybe some more, I don't know.

**Disclaimers**: Does it look like I own Naruto? I didn't think so either…

Sorry if this was a bit late, I haven't been very good at writing on anything lately. Maybe because summer is finally approaching at the cold part of Sweden -smile- just joking, I have been uninspired for a while. Hopefully I will get back to my old patterns of regular updates (I want to be able to do that right this very instant thank you very much) but until then I thank you all readers humbly for your reviews, your placing this story as a favourite and so on.

With a little luck the next chapter won't take long (or chapters to any other of my stories).

Enjoy this chapter people!

-o-

**UPDATED 2011-07-15**

-o-

**Chapter Six**

Sasuke opened the door and they all looked at him.

"Who was the person you met with?" Lee asked.

"This Mekura," Sasuke said. "He had been told about me being an Uchiha with the Sharingan eyes and was curious."

"No asking about our village?" Konohamaru asked.

"Nope. He asked if it was any difference of course, but what I told was nothing people didn't already know about us," Sasuke said. "He wasn't that interested."

"So that was all?" Tsunade said.

"Yes," Sasuke lied without hesitation.

-o-

The group moved to get back to Konoha the following day. They stepped out on the main street and wondered about the quietness of the village. It was nine in the morning but they expected more noise than it was.

Suddenly they saw Sora coming walking with a hooded person next to him. They all watched the two. Sora was dressed in black combat pants and a white robe with a cloak over his arm while the only thing they could see of the hooded person was the black cloak and grey combat pants with sandals. The two of them appeared to be arguing.

"How come so many people are hooded in this village?" Lee asked.

"Maybe they don't want to show their faces," Tsunade said. "I don't think they are dangerous."

Onikage looked around for a bit and then shouted out:

"Ikari!"

They saw a person edge closer. He looked sick, and his eyes never once looked at his leader. So that was the person who Sora threatened to kill. As quickly as Ikari had dared coming close enough, Sora took the cloak he had over his arm and put it around the blue-haired man's shoulders and said something to the man. Ikari for the first time looked Sora in the eyes and nodded a bit.

The Onikage sent the two hooded people off and his shoulders sagged a bit once he thought no one would see. He dragged his clawed fingers through his hair and they now saw dark rings underneath his eyes.

"He doesn't seem to have had a good night," Tenten said worriedly. She was still angry about their laws but not once had she seen Tsunade in that state of exhaustion.

A person jumped down next to Sora and Tsunade saw it was Konchuu. The Onikage looked over at him and said:

"What is it?"

"Enemies are coming to the island from the north," Konchuu said. "They are travelling in one boat, twenty people in all. None of them are over Jounin-level."

"What do they want?" Sora asked even as he began to walk north.

"Your death as usual," the man replied.

"Get Hijutsu and Kageenja," Sora said and now discovered the Konoha shinobis as Konchuu jumped away. "I'm sorry, Tsunade-hime and you others but it seems like I will not be able to see you off. Yokaze will bring you home in an hour."

"What about you? We heard about the enemies," Tsunade said.

"I will be fine," the man said. "I have too much to do to allow myself to die just yet. Besides, they are all only Jounin-levels."

Only Jounin-levels? _Only_? Was he crazy?

Sora jumped away, and only after a moment's hesitation they followed. They were not going to let him go alone!

-o-

Sora saw the enemies as they got onto land and swore. He saw a few corpses on the boat and knew they had killed some of the fishermen living on the island. The anger flared up inside of him; they may not be his people but they lived on this island and were not dangerous. They simply wished to live in peace; they did not deserve death delivered like those on the boat.

He could feel his allies behind him but could not be bothered with them at this moment. His hands flexed and his eyes turned sharper. Time to show Tsunade and the others just what kind of people Konoha were allied with now, and what they did towards their enemy.

Tsunade saw the Onikage prepare to attack and tried to run faster. The man was alone against twenty people. It would be impossible for him to defeat them all!

Sora jumped up in the air and swirled around. Once he stopped he had two katanas in his hands. The enemies saw him and prepared to attack.

With one great boost of chakra, he was amongst them and spun around. The screams echoed in his ears as blood splattered onto him. He jumped away, seven of the people dead. The Konoha shinobis stared at the bloodied form of the Onikage; his purple eyes became lighter and lighter, shining up and his hair appeared to be wilder and his nails longer. He threw the katanas away and brought his hands together in a seal. Five more followed rapidly and he shouted out:

"Chi Kiri!(1)"

Mist made of blood surrounded him and the enemies. The Konoha shinobis wisely stopped and watched with wide eyes.

He jumped out from the mist, formed some other seals before picking one of the katanas up and screamed out:

"Kuroi Hebi!(2)"

A snake shot out from the blade, became the blade and he spun around to send it into the mist. His movements were fast, deadly, and they all stared. This was a true fighter, a true demon. He seemed to be born to fight.

Screams erupted and Sora pulled the katana back. He threw it away again and slit his thumb on one of his sharp teeth. He slammed the hand into the ground and shouted out:

"Kuchiyose no Jutsu, Toumon kai! Kyouko!(3)"

As the mist cleared Tsunade and the others saw it were still ten enemies standing up. Smoke billowed from the ground Sora had hit his palm on and out from it came something, speeding up into the sky.

"It's a dragon!" Tenten shouted.

The dragon roared and swept down towards the enemies. At that moment, Kageenja, Konchuu and Hijutsu arrived. Kageenja saw the enemies prepare to move away from the dragon and slapped his hands together, making a seal.

"Kage mane no Jutsu!"

They all stared; it was a Nara Jutsu! Shadows shot out from underneath Kageenja, creating waves of shadows speeding towards the group of enemies. The enemies were surrounded, trapped, unable to move. They tried to get away but could not move one inch.

"Konchuu!" Kageenja shouted. "Hijutsu!"

They both ran forward as Kyouko took out three of the shinobis before hovering over them, making sure nothing happened. Sora looked on as his people fought. Maybe summoning Kyouko was a bit too much but the Onikage only shrugged mentally; what was done was done.

Hijutsu unsheathed his katana from his back and with one graceful move severed a man's head from the rest of the body. Konchuu stretched out his hands and he was surrounded by black… what was it? It came from the ground, from the air, from Konchuu himself.

"Insects!" Hinata suddenly said. "He can control insects!"

Within a few moments, all but one was dead. Kageenja made a seal and rose up from his kneeling position. The shadows did not move from the bound man even as Kageenja began to walk forward. Sora rose up from his crouched down position and the mighty dragon landed behind the man.

"It's been a long time since you have summoned one of us," the dragon spoke. "I am honoured I was the one in your mind when you summoned just now."

"Brutality fits me," Sora said. "Therefore you are the best of all the dragon summons."

Kyouko's laughter sounded like a roar and the dragon shook its head. Sora dismissed it and slowly it faded from view.

"Alright," Kageenja said and was looking at a paper in his hands. Tsunade blinked in confusion as he scratched his head and read on. He looked over at the remaining alive enemy and started, "Question number one; who sent you guys here?"

He was reading from the paper, and so slowly it almost made Tsunade burst into hysterical laughter. In a strange way he was mocking the prisoner.

The enemy kept his lips tightly shut. Kageenja took out a pen from god knows where and said:

"Alright, Mr Prisoner refuses to answer question number one. Question number two; for what reason are you here?"

Not a word passed the man's lips. Kageenja sighed and said:

"Come on, sooner of later you have to answer the questions. I prefer doing it the nice way."

"And what is the nice way?" the enemy finally asked.

"This way!" Kageenja said as if the man was an idiot. "Otherwise I have to give you to Makai and Yasha and believe me; you don't want to be with Makai and Yasha. They really know how to make a person scream in pain."

The enemy gulped and closed his eyes but still refused to speak. Kageenja groaned and said:

"This is so troublesome! Someone handle the guy; if he's not gonna answer the questions why bother reading them up?"

"Hijutsu, use your technique," Sora said as he walked forward. "I have a fair guess where they come from but do it anyway."

"Understood," Hijutsu said and turned to the man. He kneeled in front of the enemy and brought his hands together before placing the tips of his fingers on each side of the man's head. The enemy began to yell:

"What the hell are you doing?"

Hijutsu tensed up and so did the enemy. The man's mouth fell open and his eyes became blank.

"Who sent you?" Hijutsu demanded to know.

"S… sound village… Orochimaru-sama…"

The man's voice was quiet, devoid of anything and Kageenja whined out:

"Could have told me you were gonna do that from the start!"

"What were your orders?" Hijutsu continued, ignoring the shadow-user.

"Kill… kill the demons…"

"All or anyone special?"

"Kill… the Onikage…"

"Same business then," Sora said lightly. "Good riddance, they never give up. We know enough already, Hijutsu. Kill him."

Hijutsu ended the technique, brought his katana out and swiftly removed the man's head from the body. He sheathed the sword and said:

"If you may, Onikage-sama…"

Sora made two seals and said:

"Katon: Shiroi Hisaki."(4)

Blinding white flames came out from his mouth and the corpses began to burn.

"Orochimaru needs to be dealt with soon," Sora said and shook his head. "His attempts of attacking me are getting rather annoying."

"True," Konchuu said and looked around. "Should we identify the fishermen?"

"I know who it is," Sora said. "It's Baraki-san and his two sons. Their boat is the only who that could handle twenty people at once."

"Baraki-san has a wife and a small daughter," Hijutsu said. "Who will tell them?"

"I will," Sora said. "Bring Tsunade-hime and her friends to the village, get Yokaze and make sure they get back to Konoha safely. I bid you farewell, Tsunade-hime, and I hope everything will be well until our next meeting."

She nodded to him and watched him walk away to the water to wash the blood off. As they walked towards the village, he walked towards a small village by the shore and they knew the news he brought would destroy two people's lives.

-o-

Yokaze looked at them all as they appeared on the Hokage Tower. Tsunade looked around at her village and said:

"Well… I guess you should say home, sweet home here…"

Sasuke stared off into space, clearly not paying attention. Tsunade looked at Yokaze and said:

"Thank you for bringing us back, and have a safe journey back. Did Gaara decide to stay in Blood village or…?"

"I will take Gaara-sama and Kankuro-san to Suna later in the day," Yokaze said. "Gaara-sama had something he wished to talk to Onikage-sama about."

She nodded and with a seal, he vanished again.

-o-

**A few days later**

Tsunade rubbed her eyes and sighed tiredly. Kakashi and Sasuke looked at her.

"What is it?" they asked. They had not been with her that day so they did not know what had been said.

"Orochimaru," she said. "Sasuke, he's looking for your brother."

"For… Itachi?"

"He wants the eyes."

-o-

Mekura sneezed. Enkai looked up at him with wide eyes and then exclaimed pointing at him even though she knew he could not see it:

"Someone is talking about you, Mekura-san!"

Mekura rubbed his nose a bit and replied quietly:

"Maybe…"

-o-

Tsunade rubbed her temples as Sasuke and Kakashi looked at her.

"How the hell are we supposed to find a missing-nin who also happens to have a price on his head?" she asked. "Believe me; I rather have us finding Uchiha Itachi than Orochimaru getting his hands on the man."

"True, but shouldn't Itachi be able to hide himself?" Kakashi asked. "He's not that weak."

"Who knows… it's been a long time since we heard anything about anyone from Akatsuki," Tsunade said. "It seems after the leader died they all just disappeared."

Sasuke kept quiet. He had promised. He could, and would, not tell.

-o-

Sora looked over the village from his office, lost in thoughts. Scrolls and papers covered the desk but he had abandoned whatever he was working on, choosing to look at his village. His village… he may have not become the Hokage, but he was a leader. He had people to take care off, and people who respected him no matter who he was or what he did do. That was more than Konoha had ever been to him.

"Onikage-sama?"

He slowly turned to look at Mekura. The man walked forward, hand against the wall and then stretched the other out to feel the table. Once he came to the desk, he sat down and managed to find Sora's head.

"Mekura?"

The man petted the wild hair a few times before settling his hand on top of the other man's before saying:

"They are trying to find me."

"They who?"

"Everyone."

"Well they won't," Sora said. "You are safe here."

"I know that," Mekura said. "Otherwise I wouldn't have come to this village in the first place."

Sora smiled a bit.

-o-

"So we are going to find Uchiha Itachi?" Sakura asked. "Why?"

"Because Orochimaru wants his eyes," Tsunade said. "Rather we have him than that snake."

"What are we going to do with him?" Kiba asked next.

"I don't know yet," the woman said. "He is to be given a fair trial and then we'll see what happens."

The team before her nodded, and she dismissed them. Sakura stayed behind though and Tsunade felt a vein tick uncomfortably.

"Is there something you want Sakura?" she asked as she began looking through reports.

"I want to know how the village was," Sakura said.

"What village?"

"The Blood village," the pink-haired woman said.

"It was just fine, Sakura," Tsunade said. "It looks a lot like our own."

Her lips thinned and then the woman dropped what she thought was the bomb:

"I heard that their laws were different from ours…"

"Of course they are," Tsunade said. "Not everyone has the same laws as us, Sakura. I don't think anyone has."

"I heard they were inhuman," Sakura said in triumph.

"The Onikage is fair, I have seen it," Tsunade said. "He gives his people chances when we would kill them for treachery. Now get out."

-o-

"The last known location of Uchiha Itachi was in Kumo," Tsunade read out and looked up at the team that consisted of Sasuke, Kiba, Sakura, Tenten, Lee, Hinata, Ino and Chouji. The old Rookie Nine, what was left of them, along with two thirds of team Gai. A nostalgic sight. She shook her head a bit and continued, "The reports say he was seen stumbling down a street, bandages over his eyes. It's possible he has lost his eyes, and then Orochimaru is looking in vain. We still want to make sure of that before we take any conclusions. I have looked at an old medical report I managed to find on Itachi, and there it states his vision was deteriorating."

"His sight maybe will is gone, but does that mean his Sharingan is gone as well?" Sakura asked, for once professional and not just bitchy against the Hokage.

"Sasuke?" Tsunade asked, looking at the man.

"I have not that much knowledge about the Sharingan," Sasuke admitted, "but the Sharingan should stay even if you loose your sight. Sharingan is controlled by chakra, not sight. As long as you have chakra, the Sharingan should remain active."

"So we have to find him. Even without his sight, Itachi is a force we rather not letting Orochimaru getting his hands on."

Tbc…

* * *

(1) Blood Mist

(2) Black Snake

(3) Summoning technique, north gate release! Strength!"

(4) Fire technique: White

And yes, Sora is a very strong person. Both in physical strength as well as chakra. But not too strong, remember that. I hate it when people are invincible.

Chapter seven: Second visit to Konoha. This time though it doesn't go so smoothly as last time, as Onikage has to meet the council and every demon-hating person with power in Konoha… yeah, something like that. We'll see.

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	7. Chapter 7

**Hard to Forgive**

**Summary**: Banished from Konoha after an accident with Kyuubi, Naruto swears to come back too powerful to be brought down. Years pass with no sign. Until they hear a Hidden Village has risen, and its' residents are demons and outcasts. Will they find Naruto there?

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Strong!Naruto, Demon!Naruto, some people-bashing, blood, violence… maybe some more, I don't know.

**Disclaimers**: Does it look like I own Naruto? I didn't think so either…

So, I had this long rant about yaoi-fics and people had commented on this one despite it being a non-pairing fic. Since I'm updating and changing the chapters, I thought it was time to let go of that rant, and just let you reread the story in peace -happy grin-

**UPDATED 2011-07-15**

-o-

**Chapter Seven**

"Are you going to Konoha again?"

Sora nodded to Kageenja's question without looking up from the paper he was reading.

"Sora-san, I would appreciate if you looked at me." The Onikage looked up curiously at Kageenja who continued, "Konoha is not safe."

"Yes, I know. But I have you protectors, don't I?"

"Don't twist around my words like that."

"But it's true." It was hard for Kageenja to not hear the pout in the man's voice.

"Onikage-sama." Wow. It was not often the man spoke to Sora in that tone. "Please, I have a bad feeling about this."

"Are they betraying us?"

"Not Tsunade and the people she trust but… the village… it _reeked_ of hatred."

"I know."

"And yet you're going?" Kageenja demanded to know.

"We are to have a meeting what we are to do with Orochimaru," Sora said. "We decided to have that one in Konoha. Future meetings we will jump between Konoha, Suna and Blood."

"Please, you can't go there! They will attack you!"

"Then I'll kill them," Sora said with a smile that made shivers go up Kageenja's spine, and against his will he took a step back. The chakra the man emitted from his chair reeked of death. "Don't worry Kageenja; I will be fine. And if I am attacked, I always have you, right?"

Kageenja looked at his leader and walked forward. He sat down heavily on the arm of the chair and put his head down on Sora's shoulder.

"Hmm, you are usually not like this," Sora noted. "Is it only because of the people in Konoha or something else?"

"I'm just being paranoid," Kageenja replied.

"Then you can stop being paranoid," Onikage said. "You know I'm quite impossible to take down."

"Still…"

"Hush now, stop fretting," Sora said, placing a hand on Kageenja's head. "You are there with me, so I have nothing to fear."

"As I stated before, stop twisting around my words like that you fucker."

Sora only smiled.

-o-

Tsunade greeted on Gaara with a smile and said:

"How are you this wonderful day?"

"Better if your council didn't try to glare a hole into your head."

"Oh, don't worry about them. They are just acting like idiots."

"Is it because Sora is going to arrive in a few minutes?" Gaara asked.

"Yes," she said. "I don't care that much about it though. They can glare and nag all they want, he's still coming."

A moment later a great wind started and once it ended, Sora had arrived with the same group as before. The council tensed while Tsunade and Gaara smiled.

"Good morning to you all," the woman said. "Welcome back to Konoha."

"Thank you, Tsunade-hime," Onikage said and stepped forward. For today's honour he was dressed in white; white combat-pants, a white long-sleeved shirt and over that a white vest. There was a belt of scrolls around his hips, the scrolls blood red and sealed. "It seems like your council is not as happy to see me."

"Ignore them," Tsunade said. "God knows I do."

The council now glared at them all but shrunk back as Kotou began to unsheathe his katana. All ANBUs grew alert, their chakra tensing in the air.

"Kotou, don't," Sora said and looked at the white-haired man. "Whatever you are thinking, it's not worth your head to be gone."

Kotou considered this and let the katana slide back. He crossed his arms and glared back at the council. Yokaze shook his head helplessly.

"Shall we go then?" Onikage said as if it had never happened.

-o-

As they seated themselves in Tsunade's office, the council members sat as far away from Sora as possible. Gaara sighed as he saw this before seating himself next to the Onikage, his council members seating themselves near him. The demon-like man's companions did not sit down.

"You are allowed to sit," Tsunade said to them.

"We prefer standing, Tsunade-hime," Yokaze said politely.

"More like not allowed sitting," one of the Konoha shinobis muttered.

"What was that?" the Hokage asked sharply.

"More like not allowed sitting," Inuzuka Tsume repeated, looking at the Onikage as if daring him to reply.

"We prefer to stand," Kotou said with a deep chilling voice, "in case of an attack."

"Why?" she challenged.

"Use your brain if you have one," Kotou snapped.

"Stop it," Onikage said and the white-haired man immediately cut off any further words with a snap. He glanced at his leader and then turned to stare out the window. "I would appreciate to not egg my people on, as they have a tendency to answer with rather harsh words."

"Then make sure they know how to be quiet," Tsume said.

"I believe I don't like your tone," Sora said. "Maybe you should learn when to bark and when to stay foot."

Tsume was half-way up her chair when Shikaku grabbed her arm and wrenched her back down.

"Don't play around with death," he muttered in her ear before releasing her. He may not like her attitude but she was important for the village's survival.

"Everyone settle down," Tsunade said and looked around. "How are we supposed to be allies when all we can do is arguing like children?"

"We never agreed to become allies with the Blood village!" Hiashi said, venom in his voice.

"Told you so," Kageenja murmured in the leader's ear.

"Hush," Sora whispered. "Let's see where this leads."

"We are allies with Suna who are allies with Blood. Only natural Blood and Konoha became allies," Tsunade said.

"You just want to find that Uzumaki brat!" Hiashi spat.

At once, the room became silent. Sora raised an eyebrow. Kageenja gave out a near-snort before Hijutsu discreetly elbowed him. The Onikage leaned back in his chair and watched the outcome while Gaara looked at him strangely.

Before Sora had wanted to tell Tsunade who he was after the meeting with her, Gaara knew that. But now… it suddenly seemed like something had changed. But what had changed? Was the man backing off from telling the Hokage? He was not scared of that, Gaara knew that. He had been in the beginning, scared to tell Tsunade who he was however now… it seemed like he was not even scared to kill her if he had to.

What had changed?

Tsunade, unaware of the redhead's thoughts, looked at Hiashi long and hard.

"I am not out to find Naruto," she said. "He has not allowed himself to be found in fifteen years, so he clearly doesn't want us close."

Yokaze glanced down at Onikage but he did not betray anything. In fact, he did not look interested in the conversation. Yokaze bit his lip and wondered what could be the cause for the sudden change of heart:

"_Sora-san?"_

_Sora looked up to see Yokaze enter the room. He put down the scroll he had been preparing and patted the floor next to him. The younger one sat down and said:_

"_Why… why have you not prepared to tell Tsunade-hime who you are?"_

_Onikage glanced up at him for a moment before returning to his task. Yokaze knew it was a sign to wait for a few minutes until Sora was done. Indeed a few minutes later the older replied:_

"_I frankly don't know."_

"_Why not?"_

"_At first I was scared as a small child about telling," Sora said with a curl of disgust. "Then I regained myself and wondered why I should. I've turned this around a lot and still haven't found a fucking answer."_

_Crude language was not known to come from Sora's mouth so Yokaze was surprised. _

"_One part of me wants to tell," Sora said, adding a few strokes on the scroll. "Another wants me to wish them to hell. The part that was wounded deeply by their looks when I was weak."_

_"Sora-san, this is not you," Yokaze said and stared at the man._

"_I know," Sora said and looked at Yokaze. "I'm afraid I'm turning into something I was before."_

"_And what was that?"_

"… _A true monster."_

"What are you fretting about?" Sora suddenly whispered to him as the argument continued between the Konoha council.

"About what you said earlier," the younger man replied quietly.

"Aah… don't worry about it. I will figure it out sooner or later," Sora said and smiled a bit at him. "It has just been a few tough weeks."

Yokaze nodded, not knowing what else to do. He just wanted to get that empty absent stare that Sora had had for several days.

Gaara had interfered into the argument while they had talked and now said:

"We are not here to argue why we allied, we are here to discuss what should be done against Orochimaru's recent attacks!"

"They are probably allied with Orochimaru!" one of the council members shouted, pointing at Onikage.

The next moment Kotou was by him, katana against his neck, Yokaze aiming his palm against the man's heart and Kageenja stood on the table with shadows twisting around him.

"Never say to my people, or to me, that we in any way are connected to Orochimaru," Sora said dangerously low, his eyes flaring intense blue for a moment. Chakra was seeping out from him, anger mixed with it. "We tend to react… a bit violently."

While Konchuu and Hijutsu had not moved they were reeking of chakra too, both of them tense and Konchuu glaring at the one who had spoken. The rest sat silent in shock and perhaps fear.

"Yokaze, Kageenja, Kotou come back here," Sora said. "I think they know now what we think of Orochimaru."

"Fucking snake, he's getting it one day," Kageenja muttered and walked across the table to jump down next to Sora again. Twin whirls and then Kotou and Yokaze had joined the Onikage. Sora whispered something in Yokaze's ear and the younger man nodded before sliding his face into a blank mask.

"Shall we talk or not?" Onikage asked with a cold look. "If you are content with arguing like little brats, I fear I have more useful things to do than listen to your petty arguments."

Gaara stared at him; this was definitely not Sora talking. Was he giving into his old hatred? Or was he just endlessly frustrated?

The Konoha council sat in shocked silence and Tsunade heaved a sigh of relief.

"Alright, we will act like adults now," she said sternly and looked around the table. The presence of Kakashi and Sasuke behind her gave her strength. With a small grin she said, "Those who wants to continue argue I will send to the corners like stupid little brats like Onikage-sama just said. I have other things to do as well if you don't behave."

Sora cracked a smile at that, and Tsunade was pleased when most of the council went beat red.

"Seems like you got your children under control," Sora murmured. "Should we be envious of Gaara-san, Tsunade-hime, who has such nice children compared to us?"

"Hey, we're not like them!" Kageenja protested and pointed at the Konoha council.

"I beg to differ," Sora sniffed and Gaara finally smiled. He was returning, the Sora Gaara knew. Good.

The meeting progressed without problems although most of the members of the council from Konoha glared at either Tsunade or Sora. Sora paid them no mind.

Within a few hours they had a vague plan laid out; spies from Suna would watch Orochimaru while Konoha and Blood built up their force. The council members save for Shikaku and Shibi glared at Sora at the comment 'built up their force', claiming 'the demons probably were ready to strike anytime' which made Onikage a bit annoyed.

"Sora-san, your eyebrow will soon have a permanent twitch," Yokaze informed when the council members from Konoha and Suna had exited the room after the meeting. Said man glared at Yokaze and slowly unclenched his fists.

"They were beginning to go on my nerve," the man admitted.

"Hey, at least you didn't kill them," Kageenja offered and Tsunade choked on her breath a bit.

"Small miracles," Kotou said. "If he had, they would have deserved it."

"Don't start arguing you two," Sora said as the two glared at each other. "I've heard enough brat-arguments for today."

"I'm not a brat!" Kageenja whined.

"You are whining," Kotou pointed out. "A classic sign."

"Kotou, don't start," Sora moaned. He rubbed his temples as Gaara got up, stretching after having sit for a long time.

"Need some fresh air?" Tsunade asked.

"No, I'm fine," Sora said.

Yokaze suddenly produced a glass of water to the man who took it with a grateful look.

"Are you a mind-reader?" Tsunade asked Yokaze with a faint smile.

"I merely know Sora-san's needs," Yokaze said. "Although he expresses them far too little."

"Don't look at me like that," Sora complained. "I do speak up with what I need."

"Yes, but far too seldom," Hijutsu said quietly. "You insist of our own comfort before your own."

"Don't start with that again," Onikage groaned. "I told you already, I'm your leader and supposed to at that way! Every leader does!"

"But who said we are the normal village?" Konchuu asked.

"Not you too!"

Tsunade laughed quietly as Sora groaned and let his head hit the table with a thud.

-o-

Sora had just exited the building along with Tsunade, Sasuke, Kakashi, Gaara and his people when a kunai came towards him. Yokaze caught it and swung it right back before Sora could say anything.

It barely missed Hanabi, who had thrown it from the start.

"Hanabi, what are you doing?" Tsunade shouted, pale of rage.

"What are you doing?" the Hyuuga replied. "Inviting monsters to our village like it's nothing! Making them allies to our village, when everyone knows demons stab you in the back!"

Kotou growled and had his katana out within an instant. Onikage held up a hand, and reluctantly the white-haired man lowered the blade. His purple eyes locked on the young woman, who now held another kunai ready. No one moved to stop her, some of the villagers silently cheered her on.

"Stabbing people in the back… that is what your village has done," Onikage said, his voice deadly. Hanabi's hand wavered a bit, her eyes full of confusion. "Don't try to hide it. You got rid of a so called demon-child fifteen years ago, stabbing him in the back when all he wanted to do was to help."

"What do you know about it?" Hiashi shouted, eyes blazing of anger.

"Because I know your demon-child," Onikage said and people gasped. Tsunade's eyes widened. Sora's next words made her heart break, "And he wasn't willing to forgive this disgrace to village."

Gaara stared. Sora was vibrating in anger long over-due, and he looked at Yokaze. The man was at his leader's side swiftly and the Blood villagers grabbed onto the youngest of them. Sora placed his hand on Yokaze's shoulder and then looked over at Tsunade.

"He knows those who regretted it," the demon-like man spoke to her, quietly. "Just so you know, Tsunade-hime."

And then they were gone.

Tbc…

* * *

Chapter eight: A bit about Orochimaru I think, Onikage and Gaara have a talk and some other stuff. Just so you are aware, this story is not that long, maybe just a few more chapters and then it's over. I never planned it to be long.

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	8. Chapter 8

**Hard to Forgive**

**Summary**: Banished from Konoha after an accident with Kyuubi, Naruto swears to come back too powerful to be brought down. Years pass with no sign. Until they hear a Hidden Village has risen, and its' residents are demons and outcasts. Will they find Naruto there?

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Strong!Naruto, Demon!Naruto, some people-bashing, blood, violence… maybe some more, I don't know.

**Disclaimers**: Does it look like I own Naruto? I didn't think so either…

Quick note: Going to call Blood for Chigakure from this chapter on. I could continue call the village for Blood but in my ears it sounds so strange.

Enjoy chapter eight, people!

**UPDATED 2011-07-15**

-o-

**Chapter Eight**

"No signs of him?"

Kabuto looked up at the furious Orochimaru and replied:

"None. Last location was Kumo but that was almost ten years ago."

"Damn!" Orochimaru glared at the wall opposite him and then snapped, "Leave."

Kabuto did so, closing the door behind him and taking a deep breath. Where was Uchiha Itachi hiding?

-o-

Sora rubbed his eyes as he stood by the gate. Mouko looked at his leader silently. The man had lost weight, and a lot of sleep. The weight-loss could be seen due to that Sora seldom wore a shirt. Today he was dressed in black combat pants with red lining and a red vest, a belt with scrolls low on his hips.

Yasha, who stood beside Mouko, winced as she could count Onikage's ribs. The cold dismissal in Konoha two months ago had brought nothing but misery. The council had raged over Tsunade, sending complaint after complaint to Chigakure, and after a while Yokaze merely sent the birds back with the messages unopened. Sora had enough to deal with, and everyone in Chigakure blossomed a new hate towards Konoha. Those people were not fair on their leader, and that meant the Konoha council was not well-liked in Chigakure.

In fact, the only people let into Chigakure from Konoha were Kakashi, Sasuke and Hinata (she had never spoken an ill word to them, and enjoyed being with them). Perhaps Tsunade if she came but she had too many things to do as well.

But right now they were not waiting for Konoha. It was Sora who was waiting for someone.

Finally two shapes came walking. Sora stood straighter and irritably blew at the stubborn strands of hair that constantly fell into his face.

"Maybe you would get a hair-cut," Yasha suggested.

"I tried," Sora said, almost pouting. "My hair hates me."

The woman giggled, the gills flexing. Mouko shook his head. They both stood straighter though when Hijutsu came walking.

"Is it them?" he asked Onikage.

"Yes," Sora said with a smile. "He seems to be much better."

"Jiraiya-sama is good with Ikari," Hijutsu said. "Do they both look to feel well?"

"Yes," Sora said.

Ikari looked uncertainly at his leader but the shorter man nudged him on, removing his hood to shake his hair free. Long white and spiky hair fell down and Jiraiya grinned at the guards and Sora.

"Don't be shy, Ikari," he said. "Go and say hello to Sora."

Ikari took slow steps, head bowed until he stood in front of Sora. He noted he was still taller than his leader even with his head bowed. A clawed hand reached up, grasped his chin and then Sora's gentle voice:

"Look at me, Ikari."

The blue-haired man did ever so slowly, red eyes calmer than ever. He was scared what he might see when he did look up. He was pleasantly surprised and his face lit up when Onikage smiled at him, and then Sora said:

"Get your ass inside, Ikari. Makai said he's buying you dinner tonight."

"Where's… Meikon?"

"He's not angry at you, but if you want to know he's probably looking over the village on the mountain," Sora said.

"And… Rokujou?"

Sora's smile faltered a bit.

"… He's gone," the man said. Ikari nodded and said:

"Did you… kill him, Onikage-sama?"

"No. Orochimaru's people killed him about a month ago," Sora said and a flicker of hate came across the red eyes. "We will get our revenge soon, Ikari. Don't let yourself drown in hate so soon. Before you know it, Orochimaru will be dead, and we will all be free from him."

The blue-haired man nodded and took a deep breath. He willed the hate away, willed it away as Jiraiya had taught him. He felt his heart was going to burst of pride when Sora smiled at him again. He was doing something right again; he was making his leader happy. He was not going to fail Sora this time; he was going to keep his temper and hatred inside, work it out as Jiraiya patiently had taught him.

"Go."

With a small and almost shy smile at his leader, Ikari entered the village. Sora turned to Jiraiya who said:

"That kid's better than ever now. I think I managed to get through him for real this time."

"Good. I don't want him to suffer, or other to suffer because of him."

"Me neither. Talking about suffering… how are you, Sora? You look like shit," Jiraiya informed.

"Why thank you," Onikage muttered but Yasha piped up:

"Jiraiya-sama, make sure he eats, please! And hate Konoha for us too!"

"Konoha? They giving you trouble?" Jiraiya asked, wariness entering his voice.

"The council from Konoha is," Sora said with a weary smile. "If I hadn't such good self-control I would have killed them all."

"Not that they wouldn't deserve it," Jiraiya muttered. "Is it all of the council members?"

"… Not all. I do recall Nara Shikaku and Aburame Shibi were absent a lot, and when I met them they were nice."

"Two of the few sensible people in that bloody village."

They all agreed with Hijutsu's statement.

-o-

"So you're not telling Tsunade?"

"Not yet," Sora said and looked at Gaara. "You don't agree with my decision?"

"No, you do as you want. After that display in Konoha I don't blame you," the redhead said and sat down on the desk. "Tsunade isn't angry with you either, she understands."

"I know she does," Sora said. "That was why I added that with me knowing those who had regrets, so she would feel better."

"She's more at peace now after that, strangely enough. I guess as long as she knows Naruto are aware of those with regrets, he may have forgiven them wherever he is," Gaara said with a smile.

"I honestly thought they would pick it up after I said my name was Sora," Onikage said. "Or that I called Kageenja lazy. Tsunade looked at him a lot after that, and seemed to check him against Shikaku."

"She maybe has suspicions about Kageenja, but she doesn't seem to realize anything with you."

"I guess a time will come when she will know," Sora said.

"You're not scared that she will turn away from you then?"

"No," Onikage said. "If she does, then she doesn't regret anything. Then I know respecting her is worth nothing."

"Do you care about them?"

"About who?"

"Tsunade, Kakashi, Sasuke…"

"To a certain degree I suppose," Sora said. "And Hinata; Enkai loves Hinata. She continues to ask me when I'm going to marry Hinata and we will live happily ever after."

"Sounds like Enkai. You're not taking up on the offer?"

"No," Sora said. "Hinata… I like her kinda in the way you like Temari."

"Like a sibling," Gaara said. "Yeah, I thought so as well. What about Enkai?"

"She called her 'mummy' once," Sora said. "You should have seen the look on Hinata's face. Kageenja couldn't help but laugh at the time."

"I can't imagine why," the redhead said.

It knocked on the door and Mebana stuck her head in.

"Kankuro-sama is here," she announced.

"Send him in," Sora said.

She left the door and then Kankuro entered. He closed the door and then dropped the scrolls on the floor.

"Hard scouting mission?" Gaara asked.

"Nope. Boring," Kankuro said. "I sat in the same position for five fucking hours, watching Sound. Nothing happened on my side."

"You came all this way to tell me when you could just have written a small report and gotten some sleep?" Gaara asked.

"Yokaze offered me a lift."

"And how come he was there?" Gaara asked and looked at Onikage.

"Why, to entertain Kankuro," Sora said. "Did it help?"

"Yeah, it did," Kankuro said and stretched.

"Where did he go after coming here?"

"Off to find Yasha and Makai for something," the puppeteer said before sitting down. "You'll probably have a few reports on your desk by the time you get back to Suna, Gaara."

"Maybe something has turned up."

"All I heard were some guards talking about Orochimaru's obsession with Uchiha Itachi but that ain't news for us," Kankuro said. "Temari maybe have something more interesting to tell; she was closest to where Orochimaru was."

"She was fine?" Gaara asked.

"Yeah, we all met up with each other before going. We had to wait for her but that's because she had to be careful when she was replaced. Security was on top there apparently."

"Orochimaru is up to something," Gaara said.

"When isn't he up to something?" Sora asked, and the two Suna shinobis had to agree.

-o-

Tsunade rubbed her forehead as she continued reading. The tea Shizune had brought her was left untouched by her side; she did not want anything to drink. Preferably, she did not want to be in the village right now.

The last months had been tense, and the village was a bit divided into two sides: with Tsunade, not with Tsunade. The council, or most part, was not with Tsunade. Hence a very strange set of meetings where all they did was shouting.

Shibi had stopped coming. He accepted missions but nothing else. It was luck Tsunade even saw him. Shikaku was not much better. He occasionally came to the office just for a chat but not that often.

Sakura was still acting like a brat, thinking she knew more than Tsunade and that she was worth more than Tsunade. Had it not been for her determination Tsunade would have thrown the Hokage title to Sasuke and run away to Suna. Or anywhere if she was desperate enough.

"Tsunade-sama?"

She looked up and saw Hinata by the door.

"Hello. Come on in. Something you want?"

"Father is angry," the younger woman said with a wince. "He kept on banging on my front door. I took the back door out and here I am."

"Oh… Hiashi has been in a bad mood lately," she said with a small smile. "Well then, you've been here for the last hour, right?"

"Yes, I suppose I have," the woman replied and tilted her head. "What did we talk about?"

"Healing," Tsunade answered. "That way we both can have answers if he asks."

"I agree."

-o-

"Enkai!"

Hinata and Kakashi looked at each other and then towards the small lake that resided not long from the village, near the road they were currently walking on.

They saw the little girl run around, laughing while being chased by…

"Gaara-sama?" Hinata exclaimed.

The Kazekage managed to catch her with a swift movement of his sand and Enkai giggled as she was brought back to the redheaded man.

"Kankuro, I told you to keep an eye on her!"

"I did!" Kankuro said as he caught up. "She wasn't in danger."

"These days, you never know," the redhead sighed before he caught sight of the two Konoha shinobis. "Ah, Kakashi-san, Hinata-san."

"Kazekage-sama, Kankuro-san," Hinata said.

"Hinata-neechan!"

Enkai was let down and she ran to the Hyuuga. Hinata picked her up and Enkai giggled into her ear, wrapping herself around the woman the best she could.

"It's nice to see you too, Enkai-chan," Hinata managed. "Kazekage-sama."

"What brings you two here?" Gaara asked as he and Kankuro followed with them towards Chigakure.

"A message from Tsunade," Kakashi said. "For some reason the council have used all the birds."

"Yokaze said the poor creatures were almost dead, and decided to keep them in the village for a day before letting them go," Gaara said. "I saw one of them; it looked like it had been in a full storm for three days straight and barely managed to sit on Makai's shoulder."

Kakashi shook his head and said:

"The council is really angry when they shouldn't be."

"I guess," Gaara said. "But who ever said your council was like any normal people?"

"They each got a stick up their ass," Hinata said and the three men gaped at her language. She looked at them and continued, "What? It's true."

"Your father is in the council," Kakashi said. Hinata nodded, stroking Enkai's hair and saw the gate tower over them. She put the girl down on the ground and said:

"I see Mouko over there, Enkai-chan. Why don't you run over to him while we speak boring adult-stuff?"

"Okay," she said and set off. The three saw Mouko stretch and look out for any possible enemies that might lure around, ready to take anything on to protect his leader's adoptive daughter. Hinata turned back to the three men and said:

"I think I have lost all my faith in my father. Once I believed he might change… but he has not. He favours Hanabi… he wants to exclude me from the Hyuuga clan."

Gaara's eyes widened, as did Kakashi's. Kankuro said, shocked:

"What?"

"Demons should be with demons," she said bitterly. "That was what he told me. He said I was as good as a demon, liking a girl like Enkai. He told me I could as well just go here and never return to Konoha."

"What… what did you answer him?" Kakashi asked, concern mixing with anger. How dare Hiashi say that?

"I told him that Neji-niisan probably is in Chigakure," Hinata said and turned to them, "because he saw what monsters existed in the Hyuuga clan. As of today, I am no longer Hyuuga Hinata. I am… whatever Sora-sama wishes to call me."

She turned around and walked up to the gates of what she knew would be her future home.

Tbc…

* * *

Yet another twist. I like them… or they like me. Either way, I'm good at complicating things. I came up with the Hinata-part when listening to 'Earth Song' by Michael Jackson. Say whatever you want about the man, may he rest in peace, but that song is fucking incredible.

Chapter nine: Sora's reaction to Hinata leaving Konoha, her friends' reactions and leads on Itachi shows up.

I will not drop the story, I assure you that, but it might take time to get the chapters out. Just so you know and don't get worried -smile-

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	9. Chapter 9

**Hard to Forgive**

**Summary**: Banished from Konoha after an accident with Kyuubi, Naruto swears to come back too powerful to be brought down. Years pass with no sign. Until they hear a Hidden Village has risen, and its' residents are demons and outcasts. Will they find Naruto there?

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Strong!Naruto, Demon!Naruto, some people-bashing, blood, violence… maybe some more, I don't know.

**Disclaimers**: Does it look like I own Naruto? I didn't think so either…

Thanks for all the reviews!

People are questioning me now whether it will be a Sora/Hinata story, this one, but I can only say again; no pairings at all. So whatever I may accidently have implied about those two, it won't happen. Just so you know. Enkai may view Hinata as her mother, but there won't be anything romantic going on between Sora and Hinata because of that.

Anyway, enjoy chapter nine!

**UPDATED 2011-07-15**

-o-

**Chapter Nine**

Sora looked up as Hinata entered the office.

"Hinata-hime."

"No," she replied. He looked at her in confusion as she walked forward. His eyes widened when she kneeled down in front of his desk and continued, "I wish to relocate to your village… Onikage-sama, as the company of so called demons pleases me more than my own family. I beg you to allow me to stay, for I have no longer a life in Konoha."

Well… that was unexpected. Never in his life did he think the Hyuuga heir would leave Konoha; something bad must have happened for her to do it.

Sora rose up from his chair and walked around the desk. He helped her to stand up and said:

"Never before have anyone of my people bowed to me, and I shall make no habit of it. For what reason don't you consider Konoha as your home anymore?"

"My father told me I might as well go and live here because I enjoy your company," Hinata said. "Of all the Hyuugas, there is only one I respected."

"Respected, as in past tense?"

"I am quite sure… Neji-niisan no longer uses the Hyuuga name," she said. "I also knew what he would have chosen."

"And what would that have been?" Sora asked, tilting his head.

"Where his heart lay," the woman said. "My heart lies here with this village, with you people. Konoha… has become something I don't consider a home but a chaotic warzone."

Sora stretched a bit and the woman waited.

"You do know the one rule we have?"

"Throw away who you were," Hinata said and looked into his eyes. "Become reborn. I don't mind that. I would really like a new start, free from Konoha… free from my father."

-o-

Kakashi entered and looked at Sora.

"Please say you took her in, Onikage-sama," the Copy-nin said.

"I'm not that cruel," Sora said with a near-pout, causing Kakashi's lips to twitch in a small smile underneath his mask. "Of course I took her in, Kakashi-san. Was there any objections from Tsunade-hime?"

"I'm not sure if she knows this," Kakashi said as he sat down. "If she did, she did a good job hiding it from me. This is from her. Considering all of our birds are recovering here, she sent me."

"I see," Sora said and opened the scroll. "Aah, it's an update of how you are progressing. I have one prepared, I was going to send it once the birds recovered but you can take it. Do you wish to stay overnight or do you have to hurry back?"

"It will take me three days to get there, so…"

"I can have Yokaze take you back," Sora said. "He isn't really doing anything besides annoying Yasha."

"I heard that, Onikage-sama."

"Oh, Yokaze!"

The man nodded to Kakashi and gave Sora a clipboard.

"What is this?" the elder man asked suspiciously.

"It won't bite you so read it."

"Stingy. Just because I said you're just annoying Yasha."

"I am not annoying her."

"Then pray tell me; _what_ are you doing?" Sora asked.

"I did that," Yokaze replied and pointed at the clipboard, or rather at the paper attached to it.

Sora gave in and read it through.

"Sounds good," Sora said and gave it back to Yokaze. "Do you mind bringing Kakashi-san back to Konoha tomorrow?"

"I saw Hinata-san, isn't she going back as well?"

"She is not Hinata anymore," Sora said. "And she does not live in Konoha anymore."

Yokaze's eyes widened.

"Do you mean…?" he managed.

"She's Yuugao(1) now," Sora said.

-o-

"Yuugao-hime!"

Newly-named Yuugao turned around in surprise as Hijutsu came walking.

"… How did you know?" she asked.

"Me, Kageenja, Konchuu and Yokaze are always informed first of a new villager," Hijutsu said with a small smile as he came to a stop near her. She wondered if he could see despite the cloth around his eyes. "We spread the information around. And don't worry about it being spilled you are formerly Hyuuga Hinata; that information won't leave this village. No one saw you leave Konoha with Kakashi-san."

"But… I look like my old self."

"That's why I'm here, to take you to Yasha. You are to be changed completely into Yuugao-hime, and not a trace of Hyuuga Hinata shall be visible until you yourself choose it."

-o-

Enkai was happy to bounce on Yuugao's hip a few hours later as the woman walked to the Onikage's office. Mebana greeted on her cheerfully, and said:

"He's in there with Gaara-sama. Just walk in."

"Thank you, Mebana-san."

As she entered the two looked up and Sora said:

"I see you have been with Yasha, Yuugao-hime."

Gaara looked strangely at the two, as he did not know anything before once more settling his gaze on the woman carrying Enkai. She had long flowing dark blue hair, spilling over her shoulders and down her back, her eyes completely white (for others maybe that was a bit freaky, but hey it's Gaara!). She was dressed in a white jacket, a dark blue tank top underneath, and white baggy pants with a kunai-holster on her right thigh. She smiled at the two and said:

"She has a wonderful taste in clothing, Onikage-sama."

"Sora… help me, I'm confused," Gaara said and waved his hand. Sora laughed and said:

"I didn't have time to tell you, but Yuugao-hime here was a few hours ago Hinata-hime."

Gaara gaped and Yuugao laughed.

"No need to look so surprised, Kazekage-sama," she said and let the girl down who ran up to Gaara and promptly climbed onto his lap. He blinked and now focused on the girl quickly to make sure she would not fall off before looking up at the woman again.

"Why?" he asked.

"I respect Tsunade-sama," she stated first. "I always will. I had good friends. They will forever remain good friends in my heart. But the rest of the village… my own father… was pure pain. I could not remain."

Gaara nodded thoughtfully and Sora struck up a finger in the air, saying:

"Oh, I almost forgot!"

"You always forget something," Gaara corrected.

"Shut up!"

"Never."

"Gaara, I'm warning you…"

"Try making me," the redhead challenged.

Yuugao and Enkai looked on as the two glared at each other, ending with Sora huffing and getting up.

"Fine, fine, I know I forget things but at least I remember most of it!" he said.

"True," Gaara agreed. "What did you remember now?"

"It was about Yuugao-hime actually," Sora said and Yuugao felt flattered that she was called -hime by everyone in the village.

"About me?" she asked.

"Yes. Yasha told you a bit about us, yes?"

"Yes," she affirmed. "I was going to live at her place until I got used to it all, then I would move to my own place if I wanted. Also she said…"

"Said what?"

"That we're all family."

"Yes, it's quite the deal to be the father to all these brats," Sora said with a grin.

"We heard that!"

Startled, he whipped his head around. Hijutsu, Kageenja and Konchuu sat crouched outside one of the windows, said window open. Kageenja, naturally, was the one who had spoken.

"You out to give me a freaking heart attack?" Onikage shouted.

"No, you're too stubborn to die anyway," Kageenja said as he jumped inside.

"See, Yuugao-hime? They are all brats!" Sora whined.

"…" Konchuu looked at the man and Sora continued:

"Alright, Konchuu is not one."

"But I am?" Hijutsu stated, eyebrow twitching.

"Well… hmm… I have to give that a bit of thought."

Yuugao giggled at the sight Hijutsu presented, and a moment later Sora received a smack on his head by said man.

"That's not the behaviour a child should have against its father," Gaara pointed out.

"I can't believe you two!" Hijutsu shouted and Sora broke down laughing. Yuugao tried to hold it in but she also broke down and laughed.

"Anyway," the demon-like man said once he had calmed down, "there is something that these three and I wish to tell you, Yuugao-hime."

"And what is that?" Yuugao asked, curious.

Hijutsu as a response slowly undid the cloth around his eyes.

"I do not wear this because I'm blind," Hijutsu said. "I have another reason."

As the cloth fell away, Yuugao's eyes widened a bit. The man's eyes opened, and she stared.

-o-

"You guys haven't seen Hinata lately, have you?"

Lee, Tenten and Kiba looked up to see Ino. The three were seated in a restaurant and had been eating.

Now the three looked between each other and shook their heads. The blonde woman sat down and said:

"No one has seen her. I think I have to go to Tsunade-sama and ask, because I'm a bit worried."

"Yeah, now when we're so close to war, she shouldn't been sent out without us knowing," Kiba agreed, worried. He and Hinata had been close friends after Shino vanished, and the thought of her gone as well made his heart ache a bit. He still had Akamaru, but sometimes it was so easy to talk to Hinata about Shino, about life, about the past treatment of Naruto when Kiba was too depressed to think about something else… she was good at cheering him up on a bad day. Just like any friend should.

"You guys, you sure you haven't seen her?"

"No," Tenten replied. "Last time was days ago, and then she was… she had been crying. Hiashi-san had been an asshole _again_."

"He really needs to get that stick out of his ass," Kiba muttered and the three had to agree. "All he enjoys to do is making Hinata upset."

They quieted down though when Hanabi entered the restaurant. She stepped up arrogantly to them and said:

"Have you seen Hinata?"

"No," the four replied, not sparing her a glance.

"What? She was supposed to be at our meeting today, she really is useless."

"Why don't you ask the Hokage if she has seen Hinata?" Kiba asked. "Tsunade-sama at least cares of where she is."

Hanabi glared at him and stomped out.

"Brat," he muttered under his breath. Yet again, the three had to agree.

-o-

Tsunade looked up as Kakashi entered.

"Did you know?" he asked as he shut the door. Sasuke looked up from the book he was reading.

"Know what?"

"About my secret companion to Chigakure."

"Oh… yes, I did, Kakashi."

He nodded and sat down before pulling out a scroll and giving it to the Hokage. She accepted it but did not open it.

"Well?"

"Well what?" he asked, fully knowing what she wanted.

"What happened?"

"What do you think happened?"

"I know what happened but amuse an old hag."

"Onikage-sama would never have turned her away," Kakashi said. "Funny though; everyone calls her -hime."

"Well, that's nice of them."

"Not Enkai though. Poor woman is stuck with being called mommy I think."

Tsunade laughed. Sasuke looked at the two and said:

"Who are you talking about?"

"A woman whose father is an ass," Tsunade replied.

'Aha… Hinata,' Sasuke thought and nodded. Then he said, "She in Chigakure now, as in not coming back here?"

"Not as a Konoha shinobi, but as one of Onikage's people," Tsunade said a bit sadly. She would miss Hinata, and she knew people were going to question where the woman was soon.

Well, she just had to play innocent and wondering. She was a rather good actor despite it all.

-o-

A few hours later the Hokage finally got the visit she had been dreading; the visit from Hiashi.

"Where did you send my daughter?"

"No greeting, Hiashi? Well, no matter. I haven't send Hinata anywhere," Tsunade said with a frown. "She's supposed to be in the village."

"Well, she's not!" Hiashi said hotly. "I demand to know where she is!"

"I can't tell you something I don't know," the woman said and rose up. "But I'll have a group of ANBUs look for her."

He looked satisfied at that, and Tsunade sighed mentally in relief. The man gave up more easily when it came to his eldest daughter, and she was partly relived and partly angry due to that. He left and she called for a group that she would order search around Konoha for the Hyuuga although she knew Hinata was not in the country anymore.

-o-

Tsunade was having a meeting where the council had calmed down at least a bit and both Shikaku and Shibi was present.

The door banged open and Shizune came in, looking a bit out of breath.

"Tsunade-sama, we finally have some leads on Uchiha Itachi!"

"Let hear it!" she commanded, glancing over at Sasuke who had straightened up. Hate or no hate, Sasuke still wanted to know things about his brother.

"Yes!" The woman came forward and the council watched her. She looked down at the papers she was holding and continued, "He was reported seen in Water Country eight years ago, and someone took him in for a few weeks. We have spoken to the woman, and she said his eyes were constantly bleeding, causing him pain enough to be in bed most of the day. But after a few weeks he had gotten up and simply vanished. He showed up two weeks later in another village, apparently with bloodied bandages around his eyes and in pain."

Tsunade's hands tightened. His eyes had been giving up so long ago, yet Orochimaru still wanted him?

"Here come the most recent ones, although dated seven years and six months ago," Shizune said and looked up briefly at them. "Uchiha Itachi was spotted alongside a dirty road in Iwa, near death. Most people dared not to stop but a family we spoke to did see a tall, cloaked man stop by Itachi. The adults never saw the man's face but he brought Itachi with him."

"Any descriptions at all?" Tsunade asked.

Shizune's hands trembled slightly.

"Shizune?"

"Yes… the daughter described something for us," the woman said. "Tsunade-sama… she told us the cloaked man had two tattoos underneath his eyes in the formation of three dots each."

Tsunade's eyes widened as it sunk in. Onikage had Itachi? No one noticed Sasuke closing his eyes.

Tbc…

* * *

(1) Moonflower

How was that? -smile- I got tons of strange Naruto-inspiration so I just suck it up and hope it all goes well!

Chapter ten: Tsunade must know if Sora has Itachi living in his village, but the council makes a mistake… resulting in some nasty consequences. Slowly but surely this story begins to come to the climax (or at least so I think) but I will try and drag it out as long as possible (I love writing this story!)

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	10. Chapter 10

**Hard to Forgive**

**Summary**: Banished from Konoha after an accident with Kyuubi, Naruto swears to come back too powerful to be brought down. Years pass with no sign. Until they hear a Hidden Village has risen, and its' residents are demons and outcasts. Will they find Naruto there?

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Strong!Naruto, Demon!Naruto, some people-bashing, blood, violence… maybe some more, I don't know.

**Disclaimers**: Does it look like I own Naruto? I didn't think so either…

Thank for all the reviews (well, not everyone but most of them)!

It seemed like someone felt if there was no pairings, why even bother reading? Kinda funny; if I do a pairing, people complains, if I don't do a pairing people complains. Hmm, how can you satisfy everyone without simply throwing all the stories away and sit in a corner for the rest of your miserable life? Wait… then I won't satisfy those who want to read my stories! Aaah, dilemma! -runs around her room, thinking like crazy for a solution-

…

I think I'll call it even and just do whatever the hell I want with my stories -smile-

I originally had a whole lot more written here but I decided not to torture you guys with it, as it has nothing to do with you. Just know I appreciate all your comments, and I hope you enjoy this somewhat short chapter (but hey, I got it out early!)

-o-

**UPDATED 2011-07-15**

-o-

**Chapter Ten**

"Tsunade-sama, you must immediately demand the Onikage to hand over Uchiha Itachi to us!" Hiashi said.

"No!" the woman said. "I will have a message brought to him, but I will not just run in there and demand a man they might not have living there."

"Of course he lives there!" one council-member said. "That demon takes in everyone, even traitors it seems!"

"What did I say about calling Onikage-sama a demon?" she hissed, eyes burning with rage. "The meeting is over, now please get out!"

They filed out under complaint but Shikaku and Shibi stayed along with Sasuke and Shizune. Kakashi was scouting along with Kankuro and Temari around Sound village. He should come back in a few hours to share what they had found out, which most probably would be very little.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Tsunade sighed.

"Let's start with the message," Shizune said. "We only need to know if Itachi is there. As long as he's there, and not with Orochimaru it should be fine, right?"

Tsunade looked over at Sasuke. He shrugged and said:

"You know I don't hate him anymore. I don't care where he is."

"Alright. Let's write the message."

-o-

"Hmm…"

"That is not usually your response to a message from Konoha," Yokaze said carefully.

"Tsunade-hime wishes to know if we have one Uchiha Itachi living here," Sora said. "She explains Orochimaru wants him, and Konoha don't want the snake-bastard to get the Uchiha."

"Did she really write snake-bastard?" the younger man sweat-dropped.

"Actually she did."

"So… what is our response?"

"Oh, I don't know. Does it live a man with the name Uchiha Itachi here?" Sora asked curiously and looked at the younger man. Yokaze looked confused for a moment before he understood. He smiled and said:

"No… there isn't a man living here with the name Uchiha Itachi."

-o-

"He's lying!"

Tsunade rubbed her forehead and said for what must be the tenth time:

"He wrote there wasn't anyone with the name Uchiha Itachi in the village, so Itachi doesn't live there."

"It's a lie!" Hiashi shouted. Several nodded. Tsunade felt like banging her skull into the desk but thought better of it. At least Shikaku and Shibi had skipped this meeting; lucky them. Sasuke's, Kakashi's and Shizune's presences gave her strength.

"Why would he lie? He knows our situation, and offered to help us search for Itachi," the woman said.

"He wants the Sharingan eyes!"

"Please, Onikage-san is not Orochimaru," Tsunade groaned.

"How do you know he's not like Orochimaru?"

"Well, considering Onikage really wants to torture Orochimaru to death I doubt he's any like that snake-bastard. And you all saw his reaction when you accused him of being allied with the snake-bastard!" _How stupid were they?_

"You're too naïve," Koharu spoke, tone cold. "You barely know him, and you dare saying that?" _What are you thinking with, you old hag?_ Tsunade refrained from rising up and trying to choke the old woman.

"The first time I was in their village, he told us indirectly what he felt about Orochimaru," Tsunade said. "He said if he had the chance he would kill Orochimaru himself. You all know he hates the man, his people hate the man."

"I still say he's lying about Uchiha Itachi," Hiashi sneered. "He didn't say anything about picking him up in the message, did he?"

"I never asked, Hiashi," Tsunade said. "It will make it sound like we're watching him."

"Well, we should be watching him," Homura spoke up. "People like him can't be trusted!"

"How many times do we have to return to this?" Tsunade moaned. "I told you already, drop it! I won't listen to anyone of you the moment you start, and as we now know Itachi is not in Chigakure you can all leave."

-o-

"We already know Uchiha Itachi is in Chigakure, he must be!"

Danzou nodded a bit and Homura continued to mutter curses under his breath.

"Why not send a squad to get him?" Danzou suggested. "Tsunade is growing out of touch. We must take matters in our own hands to get something done."

"We must," Koharu agreed. "She will be angry though."

"She will calm down if we return with Uchiha Itachi, which I know we will," Danzou said with a malicious smile.

-o-

Yasha looked at the squad closing in with narrowed eyes.

"Mouko," she said, and the man only nodded, tightening his grip on the spear he was holding. "Makai, go and tell Onikage-sama."

Makai took a look at the Konoha shinobis and nodded. A moment later he vanished. As the shinobis came in hearing range Yasha spoke up:

"State your purpose and under whose orders!"

"We are here to take missing-nin Uchiha Itachi back to Konoha under the orders of Koharu-sama, Homura-sama and Danzou-sama," the apparent leader spoke arrogantly, looking down at her.

"We have no man named Uchiha Itachi living here, and the only ones allowed in from Konoha must be under the direct order of Godaime Hokage Tsunade-hime," Yasha said. "Stand back."

"You are to question us? You have a person we are looking for inside your village, and if you don't bring him here at once we will go in by force!"

Mouko raised his spear, but a pale hand was put on it, calming the man down. Meikon looked at them with his glowing eyes and said:

"If you take one step into the village before you have spoken to Onikage-sama, I'll kill you all." Yasha looked over at him, slightly nervous that the men would be stupid enough and still force their way in. She hoped not, as it would practically mean war.

Luckily, they saw he was serious, and did the smartest; they waited. The woman sighed of relief.

A few minutes later Sora arrived and looked at them.

"May I ask what you are doing here?" he said.

"We're here to retrieve Uchiha Itachi."

"I already told Tsunade-hime he does not live here," Sora said, frowning. What was going on?

"We're not here on her orders. She is weak, and is fooled too easy. We're here on someone else's orders, those who know you're lying."

Meikon made a move to attack but Sora stopped him with a look.

"I am not lying," the demon-like man said. "And for what you said… disrespecting your leader is not quite right if I am informed correct."

"Tsunade is not our leader!" the head of the group said arrogantly. "We don't listen to that weak cow!"

"Either way," Sora said, "you're not allowed entrance."

"Don't kid with us!" The shinobis took forth swords. "If you don't allow us to do our mission, we'll kill you."

Onikage looked at them and sighed wearily.

"Meikon, Yasha… knock them out."

-o-

When a group of unconscious shinobis arrived on the table in the council room with Yokaze kneeling next to them, all ran up. He looked around and spoke up with a toneless voice:

"Homura-san, Koharu-san and Danzou-san, all bastards according to me, your shinobis failed to retrieve a person who doesn't even live in Chigakure."

Tsunade's eyes widened and she turned to glare at the three. They reddened and Koharu shouted:

"And you killed them?"

"No, they are not dead, they are merely unconscious" Yokaze continued. It was true; they did not even have a scratch on them. He then reached into his vest and removed a scroll. He put it down, closed his eyes for a moment, opened them again and said, "As of today… all Konoha shinobis are forbidden to enter Chigakure. Only messages from Tsunade-hime will even be considered to be read, and anymore tries to try to force yourselves into our village will result in them being brought back here in unconscious state. I'm sorry, Tsunade-hime, but this order was decided by our entire village. Konoha has caused too much pain for our leader."

Before anyone could say anything, Danzou made a sign for one of his bodyguards who threw a kunai towards Yokaze.

"No!" Tsunade screamed.

Yokaze closed his eyes and the kunai went right through him. He began to fade from view, like he became the air itself.

"My powers are feared, for I can turn into the very air you breath," Yokaze spoke and looked at Danzou. "You cannot kill me with such simple things as weapons."

A moment later he was gone.

Tbc…

* * *

How was that? I like to track down on the Konoha council for some reason right now. And I hate Danzou. I know the chapter's short, I just didn't find anything more to write about at the moment.

Chapter eleven: Tsunade decides, after scaring the shit out of the stupid council, to go to Chigakure to speak with Sora on his own ground, only to come to a still burning battlefield…

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	11. Chapter 11

**Hard to Forgive**

**Summary**: Banished from Konoha after an accident with Kyuubi, Naruto swears to come back too powerful to be brought down. Years pass with no sign. Until they hear a Hidden Village has risen, and its' residents are demons and outcasts. Will they find Naruto there?

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Strong!Naruto, Demon!Naruto, some people-bashing, blood, violence… maybe some more, I don't know.

**Disclaimers**: Does it look like I own Naruto? I didn't think so either…

Thank for all the reviews!

There are still people asking questions, and I thought I should be nice and explain a few things that one reader was wondering (well, maybe more wondered about this but I used his/her review for this):

_What is Naruto's/Sora's status as a demon:_

When Kyuubi extracted himself from Naruto, a portion of his chakra remained in Naruto, and caused chaos inside of Naruto. In order to stop that, Naruto made that chakra his own, thus making him kinda a half-demon.

_What is Enkai:_

Her mother was able to turn into a fox, but had fox ears and a tail. She could hide them but not until she grew older. Enkai is the same, but has yet to learn to control it so she has the ears and tail visible. As she gets older, she will learn how to hide them.

_What happened to the sealed Biju if Akatsuki disbanded:_

Maybe you are not aware of it (can't remember if I ever told you guys) but Gaara still has Shukaku. Akatsuki had extracted a few of the Bijus and the demons were simply released after the Akatsuki disappeared. Where they are now, no one knows.

And no, I am not going to bring in any other Jinchuurikis; they belong to their villages and those villages are not involved in this war.

_What happened to Kyuubi:_

Hmm… you will soon find out (my standard answer for this question).

_Hijutsu, Kageenja and Konchuu:_

Most of you guys seems confident of who they are but let's not spoil anything. You will soon know that as well -happy smile-

And now, enjoy chapter eleven!

-o-

**UPDATED 2011-07-15**

-o-

**Chapter Eleven**

"Homura… Koharu… Danzou… mind telling me exactly what you did?"

The three looked at Tsunade and Danzou spoke up:

"We took matters in our own hands, as you seem to have lost it."

Her hands slammed down on the table, cracking it. Against their will, the council tensed. Her head was bowed, and they were glad for that. The anger shining in her eyes would probably make them all unable to stand.

"I am going to Chigakure, to express my apologies for the stupidity of this council," Tsunade spoke, and she knew without looking they smiled in glee at the opportunity to take over her place. She was going to do something drastic sooner or later if they did not stop. She looked up and continued, "However… in charge I will leave Ibiki and Shizune. And we will have constant contact with each other. One ill word about you guys from them, and I will have you all executed." Well, excluding Shibi and Shikaku but no one had to know that right now.

"You can't do that!" Tsume shouted.

"Watch me," the Hokage said with a glare that shut the woman up. "It's about time you guys realize just who is in charge. In the end, _I_ am the one in charge. And I'm growing rather pissed off at your stupidity and foolish grudges. As of now, Homura, Koharu and Danzou have been stripped off all power and Danzou's ROOT will now be under my control. You went against the law, and be glad I'm not having you three executed right now. It may change in the near future if you take one _tiny _step wrong with me."

The three stared at her and saw she was not joking with them. Danzou felt rage build inside of him but Tsunade stopped him before he could show just how angry he was.

"Don't start, Danzou if you want to keep your head where it is," she said and looked at him. She was serious. She would do it herself if she had to. What scared Tsunade the most was that she would probably enjoy it. "I'm definitely not in the mood for you opening you big mouth, Danzou. Now, everyone, please leave."

-o-

"Are we all set?"

Tsunade looked at the group and they all nodded. The group consisted of Sasuke, Kakashi, Kiba, Lee, Tenten and Ino. Akamaru barked, wagging his tail.

"Alright, let's go then!"

And then they were off to Chigakure.

-o-

"I can't believe them!" Tenten shouted, outraged as Tsunade had told her the reason why they were going to Chigakure. "One word, Hokage-sama, and I'll kill them myself!"

As the weapon-user raged on, Tsunade stared at her. Tenten seemed livid.

"Tenten, calm down!" Lee said after she had screamed for ten minutes straight.

The woman lowered the kunai she had been waving around and sighed.

"I don't like them," she muttered.

"Yeah, we kinda realized that," Kakashi said, sweat-dropping.

"I thought you didn't agree with Onikage's laws," Tsunade said.

"Well, I was an idiot," Tenten said. "I have to accept it's his way of doing things, and it works. He's still respected by the villagers, so why shouldn't he have my respect as well?"

"Oh, how I wish more people were like you," the Hokage moaned.

"We can't have everything going our way," Lee said. "We can just do the best of the situation."

"You're right," Tsunade said. "Alright, let's pick up the pace."

"Understood!" Lee cried enthusiastically while the others groaned in misery.

-o-

"Sir, is that smoke?"

The shipper turned to where Tsunade was pointing and squinted to look.

"Yes," he said and straightened up. "It looks like it comes from… the road to Chigakure."

The Konoha shinobis looked at each other.

"They can still be fighting, so I suggest you turn around for now," Tsunade said.

"But you guys," the man began.

"It's not far; we'll run."

"But we're in the middle of the water!"

"Don't worry about that, just turn the ship around! We don't want you guys to be hurt! Let's go!"

Tsunade jumped down on the water and started running. The other quickly followed. They could have run across the entire way between land and Death's Cliff but they had just come in time for a ship to be free and hired the man to take them over to the island. Now though they would not willingly risk his and his crew's lives just so they could get over.

"Be ready for anything!" she shouted.

"Understood!" they all called out.

When they arrived at the road that led up to the impressive village, they could only stare at the sight.

Small fires burned everywhere, remains of Katon techniques and bodies lay scattered. The shinobis ran towards the village, and along the way the chaos got worse.

Finally they saw the huge walls and the open gates, a lot of people milling about outside the village. Many were injured, some carried friends into the village, and some of them were packing the dead corpses of their enemies into piles.

"Yokaze-san!" Tsunade called out, seeing the man.

Yokaze looked up and his eyes widened as they came to a stop.

"Why are you here?" he asked.

"Express my apologies for the stupid council of mine, but I guess we can take that later. What happened?"

"Orochimaru attacked when he knew we had no one scouting," Yokaze said and looked around at the various injured people. "Konchuu normally watches but they took him out first."

"Don't tell me…" Tsunade said, eyes wide.

"He is still alive," Yokaze said. "I know we all in Chigakure agreed to not allow Konoha shinobis in, but these are under your command, yes?"

"Yes."

"Then they are allowed in," Yokaze said. "If you wish to help us."

"Of course," Tsunade said and turned to the group. "Right?"

"Naturally!" Tenten said. "What can we do?"

"Tsunade-hime… we may need your help with Onikage-sama."

Her blood ran cold at his tone.

"What happened to him?" she asked.

"The enemies focused on taking him out, giving him no chance to rest," the man said and looked at Tsunade. "There is a… it's better if you see it for yourself."

They walked quickly into the village that somehow had managed to be kept somewhat safe against the attacks; only a few houses were damaged and at a few places the ground was burnt. They heard children cry somewhere and were met by Kageenja. He had a black eye and dried blood in the corner of his mouth, his left arm in a sling. He nodded quickly to them and said to Yokaze:

"Konchuu is stable but still unconscious."

It seemed like Yokaze was somewhat the leader when Sora was not on the scene.

"Who is the head medic here?" Tsunade asked.

"Mebana," Yokaze replied, surprising them. She was the one who greeted everyone at Onikage's office, big smile ready for anyone and scars around her neck. "She is currently outside and healing the worst injuries, those who we didn't dare move."

"But you moved Onikage-sama?" the woman asked.

"… Not really. He walked on his own."

"What? That means he can't be that badly injured, right?" Ino asked.

"He has a high pain-level," Yokaze said shortly. "Where you would scream in agony, he barely notices it." They looked at him oddly, wondering what he meant.

They came to the hospital and entered.

"Yokaze-san."

"Yuugao-hime."

Tsunade looked and saw a woman with complete white eyes and blue hair.

"Onikage-sama is wondering why we all are freaking out," the woman stated. "I must say sometimes he's an idiot."

"Tell me about it," Yokaze groaned. "This way, Tsunade-hime."

"Who was that?" Tsunade asked, having a feeling of who it was as they walked towards a room.

"She is one of our newest villagers," the man said.

Tsunade knew immediately who it was, but did not turn to look at Yuugao again. She released a breath of relief though as they walked on.

"You may not want to see this," Yokaze said and turned to look at the rest of the group.

"We've seen a lot," Kiba said. He had left Akamaru outside the hospital with some of the frightened children, knowing the dog would do anything to cheer them up.

"You have not seen this," the man aid and pushed the door open. They all saw it, and their eyes widened.

Sora looked up at them, chest heaving to give him air to breath, the sword pierced right through his lung and heart giving him some trouble. His face was paler than usual, his arms shaking the tiniest bit. He bore a few scratches along his body, but the sword was the worst and made them all a bit pale. Tsunade wondered just how high his pain-level was.

"Sora-san, I told you to lie down and try to relax," Yokaze said.

"My heart pulls at the sword," Sora said and gritted his teeth, his chest heaving, trying to force him to suck in more air although it would do him no good. His teeth were bloodied, a string of blood trickling down his chin as he spoke. "I can't fucking relax."

"He's lost a lot of blood," Tsunade said, seeing the big splatters on the bed and on the floor. "Can you please lie down so we can work on removing the sword, Sora?"

His eyes were narrowing and relaxing, hands flexing on the sheets and Yokaze saw the Konoha shinobis looked at him.

"Once he's lost a certain amount of blood his demon side begins to take over," Yokaze supplied as he moved to the bed. "Sora-san, lay down."

The man fisted a hand into the white sheets as he lowered himself down on the side, his eyes tightly closed. Yokaze trapped his upper body to the bed and said:

"It's better to not check, just pull out. Sora-san hates waiting."

"We may kill him!" Tsunade hissed.

"I don't think so," the man replied. "We need help in the hospital." He nodded his head to the rest of the team.

"We'll go and see what we can do," Ino said and nodded. The others nodded as well and they left the room.

"What should we do?" Tsunade said as she stepped up. "It's only the two of us, is that fine?"

"Not in this state," Yokaze said. "Let me get the secret weapon. Sora-san, _do not move_."

He jogged through the door, leaving the woman alone with the Onikage. She took the time to gentle look over the sword, how to drag it out the easiest and how much blood the man had lost.

"Daddy!"

The voice startled the Hokage and she turned around. Yokaze put Enkai down on the bed and said:

"Enkai, can you make sure Sora-san keeps calm?"

She nodded, looking away from the sword and moved to hug her father's head. One of Sora's hands twitched before relaxing.

"Alright, let's get this thing out of him," Tsunade said, shrugging off her robe and rolling up her sleeves. "He needs some blood transplantation after I've closed the wound."

"I've already arranged for it. Yuugao is on her way."

The man seemed to think about everything. Tsunade nodded shortly and put her hands by the wound, ready to heal it once the sword was out. Yokaze grabbed onto the hilt and looked at Sora. The man, his daughter's small arms around his head, looked calmly back at him and the younger man pulled.

-o-

"Onikage-sama!"

Kiba and Ino looked up in surprise; it had been only a half-hour since they left the room! They turned around to look.

Sora came walking, his chest dressed in bandages, Enkai holding his hand and skipping along his side. He was paler than normal and had one hand on Yokaze's shoulder. Tsunade came and said:

"Does anyone need help?"

They saw blood on the front of her clothes but said nothing.

"Sora-san, you should sit down," Yokaze said quietly to the man he considered both brother and father.

"Not yet," Sora replied. "How's Konchuu?"

"He's stable," the man said. "Soon you're not going to be, if you _don't sit down_."

Onikage looked over at Yokaze and saw his pained face. He looked around, located a chair and sat down.

"Satisfied?" the demon-like man asked, quirking an eyebrow. Enkai was picked up by Hijutsu; she had run into his legs and now trapped in his arms. She did not complain.

"Very," Yokaze said, looking over at Hijutsu and Enkai. The man located them by their chakra signals and began to walk over. "Just relax so you don't undone Tsunade-hime's work."

-o-

"Thank you for all your hard work," Mebana said to the Hokage a few hours later as everyone had gotten treatment.

"Can't say you were too bad yourself," the older woman replied. "How's everyone?"

"Most of them are fine enough to not stay in the hospital," Mebana said. "Meikon's sitting with Konchuu; he was awake briefly earlier. He should be on his feet in a few days. We have a few who hasn't woken up yet, but they will most likely wake up tomorrow."

"Anyone who died?"

Mebana's hands stilled from packing down some leftover bandages. Her eyes closed.

"Who died?" Tsunade asked.

"Some of the children," Mebana said. "I think Onikage-sama knows… that's why he's so quiet."

"The children?"

"The orphans," the younger woman said and closed one of the first-aid kits. "Yasha and Makai tried to protect them, but some of the enemies slipped past them."

"How many in total were killed?"

"Two adults, both of them rather old and not fighters in the beginning and… eleven children."

Tsunade sat down and said:

"Eleven. That's horrible." During the recent wars, she could say with pride in her voice that no innocent child had been killed in battle. Seemed like Chigakure was not as fortunate.

Mebana continued packing and said:

"We are going to bury them tomorrow. For a while I thought maybe we wouldn't have to fill our graveyard with more children but it was too much to hope for."

"It's not your fault, only Orochimaru's and those who were ordered by him to attack," the Hokage said. "They willingly killed children."

"Have you forgotten, Tsunade-hime? You may see us as people, but for them… we are just… _things_. We don't deserve life."

"Forgive me for asking something uncomfortable, but where did you live before?"

Mebana looked at her and smiled a bit sadly before saying:

"Unlike most people here, I had a good life for a while. I had my mother and my brother and we lived outside the village to please them, so they didn't have to live with us. Both I and my brother were different. My mother was an outcast to have given birth to such strange children. It all changed when I turned nine, ten years ago."

Now she sat down as well and looked at the older blonde woman.

"The villagers had grown sick of us, and decided to get rid of us. We gave the village a bad rumour, travellers rarely came anymore and most shops had a hard time keeping it going. So they decided to get rid of us so they could eat well again. They killed mother first. She was really beautiful and very kind, would never want to harm anyone. They still killed her. My brother looked very different from both myself and my mother, both of us having blonde hair and brown eyes. It was said that my brother's real father was a devil, explaining his vibrant red hair and glowing eyes."

Tsunade's eyes widened.

"You mean… I mean, Meikon is your brother?" she asked. She still remembered the first meeting with him, the slight twinge of fear at his glowing eyes. It was like he looked into one's soul with his eyes. She could not honestly blame people for fearing him, as little as anyone could blame him for being born that way.

"We're one of the few genuine siblings here," the younger woman said with a rather shy smile. "Anyway, that's why he was feared. They feared me for another reason. With me there was no father, my mother just one day gave birth to me. They planned to kill me first, since I was younger and weaker. They held my brother back as they cut open my throat."

Tsunade felt sick when she listened. Mebana told her like it was nothing! Anger bubbled inside the older woman, anger at people like those who had killed Mebana's mother.

"I didn't die. My brother tore free and ran away with me. They had cut me open six times, these six scars."

"How did you survive?"

"I had the ability to heal," Mebana said. "I still have it. They became afraid when I self-healed myself once, when I was four. I had broken my leg and it was twisted. I put my hands over the leg and the bone mended back together. I could stand on it within a few moments. The wounds around my neck also healed, not because I wanted it but because my body simply self-heals. I can 'lend' out this to others. That's how I heal people. It doesn't work as good as with me, but I can help them."

"Did you meet Sora after that?"

"Yes. Only a few days after, when my scars were still raw, we bumped into him. We thought at the time he looked scary, wearing a great black cloak with hood but when we saw his face it felt like… family. He looked strange just like us, and he took us home."

Mebana laughed a bit at the end and looked at Tsunade.

"While I miss my mother," she said to the Godaime, "I'm still glad it all happened. We got to meet Sora-sama, all these people, and we are now surrounded with people who understand us, and don't look at us like we're the freaks. Instead it's 'normal' people who are the freaks."

-o-

Sora lay on his futon, staring into the wall and hearing soft voices from his living room. Enkai's giggles, followed by Yuugao's soft voice and a few moments later a quiet exclaim from Kageenja.

He closed his eyes painfully. Thirteen people died today. Compared to other fights, it was nothing.

But it was different this time. Eleven of them were small children. They all thought he had not seen. But he had. Busy fighting with three people, he had seen the last child fall among corpses of others. He had let his control slip, and a moment later slickness entered his chest and went out his back. He had felt no pain at the sword penetrating his lung and heart, the demonic chakra already shifting to help him go on. He wondered if he ever would be able to feel pain again. He had only felt uncomfortable at the time, the metallic taste of blood rich in his mouth.

He remembered Yasha and Makai carefully gather the dead children, their movements gentle and awkward, both of them used to war, death and pain, both of them used to bring pain. Not used to carry bodies of children they had laughed with the day before.

Then Yokaze when the young man found him, his wide eyes and chakra trembling in the air with fear. Sora had fallen to his knees at some point, feeling rather faint and blood dripping from his mouth. He had walked to the hospital on his own, Yokaze hovering next to him, caught him when he stumbled, winced when harsh coughs brought blood up, bubbling up his throat, tearing at his already abused lung and heart.

Carefully he sat up. The wound had closed outwardly and around his heart, but his lung had not completely healed. Tsunade had done a great job though, as he would be able to function normally again within a week. Without her he would have laid in bed for weeks. But if she had not been there Mebana would have come eventually, despite being tired and drained.

He got up and walked out from his bedroom. Once in his living room, he leaned against the doorway and watched his people.

Konchuu never liked hospitals, so he was gaining back his strength in one of Sora's guestrooms. Right now though, he sat and spoke to Hijutsu, the man's cloth off but his eyes still closed. Kageenja, his arm now healed, was currently playing with Enkai, letting her put hair ornaments in his hair. He looked hilarious, and Yuugao kept hiding her giggles.

Yokaze noticed him as he came from the kitchen with a tray.

"Sora-san," he said. The others were too far away to hear them, sitting near the open door that led out to the terrace. It was late evening, the smell of smoke finally gone and a strong breeze bringing them the salty smell of ocean. It was nice.

"Yokaze," he acknowledged.

"Did we wake you up?" the younger man asked worriedly.

"I wasn't asleep," Sora reassured. "I listened to you and… I just needed to see them. Enkai could have been one of those dead children."

"But she wasn't, because she's got a protector as fierce as you," Yokaze said. "Anyone who would dare to come close to Enkai with cruel intent would fall quickly for Yuugao's deadly hands."

"I know," Sora said. "I'm just paranoid."

"You've always been. For everyone. You still are."

"I have watched many of you grow up," Sora said. "It's hard not to become paranoid for yours sakes."

"Daddy!"

Sora sat down next to Yuugao, accepted his daughter's arms around his neck before lifting her over back to her spot. She pouted but understood; he was tired and still not healed. She took out her revenge on Hijutsu, hair ornaments ready in her small hands. Kageenja laughed at that as he carefully plucked his own out, trying to bring the worst mess down.

"How are you feeling?" Yuugao asked the Onikage as Yokaze sat down and put the tray on the low table.

"Fine," Sora replied. "So stop worrying."

"It's quite worrying when one sees you walk around with a sword sticking out of your body," Kageenja deadpanned.

"Stop worry about me," Sora said. "I'm fine."

They all avoided the subject after that.

-o-

"Yokaze?"

The man looked caught before he kneeled down next to Sora's futon.

"I was just checking," he mumbled.

"That I was still alive?" Sora wondered and the younger man nodded with a faint blush at having been caught. It reminded Sora of old times, and he barely remembered to continue, "I am. I won't die."

"You could have died today."

"Sure, but I didn't," Onikage said. "That's the main part."

He sat up. It was in the middle of the night, and Yokaze should be asleep. The man had worked hard today. Yet he sat here. With a sigh Sora patted the spot next to him.

Despite not being a child, Yokaze laid down. The demon-like man lay down as well, propping his head up with his hand, leaning onto his elbow, feeling a faint pull at the wound. He ignored it.

"It's alright to be scared for someone else," he told the younger man.

"But no one else is," Yokaze whispered.

"They are," Sora said. "Trust me, they are. I am. I just don't let it show too much."

"Do I let it show too much?"

"… No, you don't," Sora reassured. "You wait until later, just like everyone else does, to check on those you care for."

"I care for everyone, yet it's you I fear for. You of all people," Yokaze said and carefully looked up at Sora. They were not quite touching; there was no need for that. Each other's presence was more than enough.

"That's not unusual. You are like everyone else. I fear for you, despite knowing almost nothing can kill you or touch you for that matter. I fear for Kageenja, despite knowing he can turn into a shadow at any time. I fear for Hijutsu, which is just ridiculous because no one can get close enough to hurt him. I fear for Konchuu, and I know already nature's small creatures won't let him die. I fear for many people, despite knowing they are more than capable of taking care of themselves. That's what a family does."

Yokaze closed his eyes. Sora's chakra surrounded him, comforting him in the same way it had always done.

"Father…" he whispered, fearing how Sora would react at being called that again by him. Yokaze had not called him that for over ten years.

There was nothing but warmth in Sora's embrace and the demon-like man answered fondly:

"Son."

-o-

The funeral of the dead was as short as it could be, but it was enough. Tsunade watched Sora who stood, stone-face, and stared as they lowered the caskets down in the graves. Enkai held in one of his hands, the girl quiet and sad. It had been her friends who died. She knew them all by name, she knew what they liked and disliked and their hopes for the future.

Few cried. They were probably too used to death to even let tears fall. Maybe some did not know how to cry.

When the people began to bury the caskets Sora turned and walked away, his footsteps silent like ever. He was dressed all black for today; simple black pants and a black shirt with his hair for once up in a loose ponytail. Many were dressed similar to him.

The Konoha shinobis walked away as well, many of the villagers moving back to repair the damages the enemy had done.

"Will you go back to Konoha now?" Yokaze asked them.

"Yes," Tsunade said. "You never know what will happen when I'm gone."

"I thank you for coming," the man said. "Do you wish for a quicker transport?"

"Haven't you exhausted yourself?" the woman asked.

"Not too much," the black-haired man said. "Orochimaru might be preparing to attack your village after failing to destroy ours."

"We are an easier target," Tsunade admitted.

Yokaze looked back to Sora, and then turned to the Hokage.

"I'll speak with Sora-san later. He wants to be alone for a bit."

"Tell him I'm sorry for the stupid incident a few days ago," Tsunade said. "I've taken means so it won't happen again."

"I will do so. Shall we?"

They nodded and reached out to grab him. Akamaru put his paw on the man's hip. With a seal, they vanished.

-o-

Yokaze returned a few minutes later and looked around the office. Sora was sitting by one of the windows, staring out absently.

"Did you escort Tsunade-hime home?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Good."

"Orochimaru is going to attack them, isn't he?" Yokaze asked.

"Perhaps," Sora said and tilted his head. "Or rather, most likely."

"What will we do?" the black-haired man asked the Onikage.

"I wonder…"

The man turned to look at Yokaze and the younger one was slightly disturbed by the deep sadness in the purple eyes.

"What's wrong, Sora-san?" he asked.

"I want Konoha to burn," Sora said and looked back outside, "even as I want it to remain."

"You want the people to burn."

"That too," the demon-like man said. "But if I really did then… the people that missed me, the same people that now trusts me… they would hate me again."

"You don't want that," Yokaze said softly.

"In the beginning I didn't care," the older man said with a humourless smile. "I used to think up horrible deaths for them all. Tearing them apart, limb for limb with my own two hands… bath in their blood, finding happiness in their anguish. Why did I suddenly begin to care for them?"

"Because you realized they missed you." Now Yokaze was worried. Sora was scaring him. He had a strange glint in his eyes that he rarely showed. The only sign that the demonic power he had was just as bloodthirsty as any other demon. That Sora was as bloodthirsty as any other demon when angered.

Sora's sharp nails dug into his pale skin, the man not noticing as he created wounds. Yokaze stepped forward, wary, and gently made him let go his abused arms.

"You're hurting yourself," Yokaze murmured. "Don't do that." _I saw more than enough of that in the past._

Sora looked at Yokaze, a clawed hand stroking the younger man's face, a tender gesture a father might do. Yokaze closed his eyes.

"What should I do?" Sora whispered.

Yokaze had no answer.

Tbc…

* * *

Phew, finally finished! Sorry for the wait!

Chapter twelve: I was going to make this the last chapter, but I changed my mind and this chapter will be glimpses from the past! Maybe how Sora met some people, creating Chigakure, meeting Gaara again and so on! Thought I would indulge myself and that I would indulge you readers as well! What it will be about exactly I have no idea, so big surprise! Dunno when to expect it, but probably not so soon -sheepish smile- I got too many things to do

However, look forward to it!

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	12. Chapter 12

**Hard to Forgive**

**Summary**: Banished from Konoha after an accident with Kyuubi, Naruto swears to come back too powerful to be brought down. Years pass with no sign. Until they hear a Hidden Village has risen, and its' residents are demons and outcasts. Will they find Naruto there?

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Strong!Naruto, Demon!Naruto, some people-bashing, blood, violence… maybe some more, I don't know.

**Disclaimers**: Does it look like I own Naruto? I didn't think so either…

**UPDATED 2011-07-15**

-o-

**Chapter Twelve**

"Are you tired, Yokaze?"

Newly turned eight-year old Yokaze looked up into purple eyes, thinking up with a quick lie of _no, he was not tired_ when he remembered he did not have to lie here. Not to Sora-san. He could always tell Sora-san the truth.

"A bit," he answered.

"We will have a bit to go, better to save your strength."

Sora knelt down after saying this and let Yokaze crawl up on his back. One strong arm was placed under Yokaze so he would not slip and the young man continued walking.

They had been travelling together for three weeks now. Yokaze's birthday had been two days ago. He had been nervous about telling Sora, and had done so quickly with his eyes staring down on his lap. A little while later, when they had entered a village to spend the night there (Sora hiding most of his outstanding features underneath a Henge) the man had bought Yokaze a necklace. It was his first gift ever.

The boy fingered on the necklace, felt the warmth radiating from the man as he walked, gentle moving that lulled the child so easily to sleep. His eyes slipped close, small fist closed around the necklace and his grip loosened around the man's neck.

Sora stopped for the day a few hours later and carefully shifted until he held Yokaze in his arms. He knelt down and unsealed a blanket from a scroll, spreading it out on the ground and gently placing the sleeping boy on it. He tucked Yokaze in before sitting down next to him. There was no need for a fire, for Sora felt no cold and if Yokaze did, his saviour was sitting just next to him.

-o-

Yokaze wondered why he woke up. As he sat up and yawned, it was still night, he realized Sora was not with him.

A moment of panic, his heart up his throat, his mind screaming _WHY? WHY DID HE LEAVE ME? WHY?_

Then he heard a rustle and the familiar mutter of Sora's deep voice. At once, his shoulders sagged in relief and he could barely breathe due to the racing of his heart. The man had not left him. He was still here; he was not going to leave him. Sora would never leave Yokaze.

The demon-like man appeared from the dark, carrying his sword in his right hand. He licked a wound on his left hand.

"Did you get hurt, Sora-san?" Yokaze asked worriedly.

"I'm fine," Sora replied and looked at the boy. "Clumsy accident."

"Was it someone… who attacked you?"

"Yes, at first. Then I stumbled and got this wound from a sharp rock," Sora said with a sheepish smile. "As I said, clumsy. It's in the middle of the night; you should sleep a little while longer."

The boy lay down again but did not close his eyes. Sora sat down, placed the sword down on the ground next to the boy. It smelled of blood, Yokaze's nostrils widened and his eyes closed. Sora's scent.

The scent of death.

-o-

Yokaze looked uncertainly at the young man Sora was talking to. The two seemed to know each other and spoke vividly. The boy kept himself a bit away, wondering who it was.

"Yokaze."

Sora's voice made him look up at his saviour. A hand waved him over, and Yokaze took a few tentative steps up to the two. Sora let him take his hand, squeezed it a bit and said:

"Yokaze, this is Konchuu. He is a friend to me, and to you."

The man's eyes shifted colours. Yokaze looked curiously at them.

"Hello, Yokaze," Konchuu said, raising a hand in greeting.

"Hello, Konchuu-san," the boy said and pressed himself to Sora's side without thinking. Sora released Yokaze's hand and put an arm around the child's shoulders, allowing him to stay close.

"Are you on your way back?" Sora asked the man.

"Yes. There is a village further ahead, Kageenja is there. He found a child there, or at least a youngster. She was badly injured."

"Go," Sora said. "Take her to the village, we have a healer there who can help her. Tell her we don't want to hurt her, and if she wants she can pick out a new name."

Konchuu nodded and made a seal. A moment later insects began to crawl up on him. Yokaze's eyes widened as he saw them crawl into _underneath_ the man's skin. Once that was finished, he blurred out of sight.

"Shall we continue?" Sora asked.

"Where are we going?" Yokaze asked as they began to move again.

Sora looked ahead for a while and then said:

"We are going to Suna. There is a… old friend I would like to visit for a little bit."

-o-

Gaara was looking over the vast desert, not feeling like going back to the tower just yet. He had no reports to do, not meetings to hold and nothing that needed his attention at the moment. He could just stand there… and think.

Temari and Kankuro stepped up to him.

"Are you thinking about Naruto again?" Kankuro asked.

"It's not like I can think of much else," Gaara said. "It's been two years already since he left Konoha."

"I hope he's doing well," Temari said. "Although I guess I shouldn't worry about that."

Kankuro was about to say something when he suddenly squinted his eyes.

"Is that someone walking there in this heat?" he asked and pointed.

The two looked where he looked and saw soon enough a silhouette of a man walking towards the village. They could not see much other than he had raven hair and…

"He carries a child," Gaara said. "I can't tell if the child is conscious."

He jumped down from the wall and landed safely on the sand outside the village. Temari came down soon enough and Kankuro got down a few minutes later, a scroll secure on his lower back. They awaited the man along with two guards.

Purple eyes looked at them as the unknown man stopped a few metres from them. He laid his head to the side, like a child. The boy on his hip looked at them before fisting his hand into the man's black-red hair. They saw a katana hanging from the other hip. The man was barefoot and his chest was bare as well.

"You don't seem to be meant to be in the desert," Gaara spoke lowly.

"Pain is irrelevant," the man said with a deep, resonating voice. He had burns on his feet.

"You don't feel pain?" the redhead asked, pointing at the feet.

"Pain is for humans to suffer," the man said. "For me, it is mere annoyance. I will let you down now, Yokaze."

Sora put down Yokaze on the ground, the boy clad in sandals, black shorts and a white T-shirt. He took a hold of a clawed hand and stayed close to Sora.

"If you look for a fight, turn around," Gaara said. "I will not let you into my village if you will."

"You think that low of me?" Sora said. "I thought you understood outcasts… Jinchuuriki-san."

Gaara's jaws tightened. The sand began moving around him.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"I knew you wouldn't recognize me, Gaara," Sora said. "But I defeated you once. In Konoha. The day Sandaime Hokage died."

Gaara's eyes widened, and Sora smiled.

"Naruto?" the redhead asked breathlessly. The guards had returned to their posts and could not hear them.

"Please call me Sora," the demon-like man said. "Naruto is dead, isn't he Yokaze?"

The boy nodded.

"The child?" Gaara asked.

"He was going to be killed," Sora said and curled an arm around Yokaze. The boy looked at the three of them. "I stopped them from doing it… kinda."

"Kinda?" The redhead sounded sceptical.

"I killed them," Sora said with a shrug. "People say I reek of blood nowadays. I guess I have taken over your nature, Gaara, your urge to kill everything you don't like."

-o-

Once Yokaze was kept busy by Kankuro and Temari Gaara locked the door to his office. Sora looked at him, katana resting next to him.

"You do reek of blood," Gaara said as he sat down opposite of him. "Shukaku can feel it, but can't feel Kyuubi."

"Kyuubi doesn't live in me anymore," Sora said. "That's why I am the way I am."

"If that's the case, maybe it would have been better if Kyuubi stayed inside of you."

"No," Sora said harshly. Gaara was shocked. He had never heard Sora talk with real anger in his voice, uncontrollable anger, almost to the brink of sheer rage. "If Kyuubi had stayed in me, I would have been weak and returned to Konoha. I would have returned there, crying like a fucking baby and they would have killed me. I haven't returned, not even once. I won't. Not until I'm too powerful to kill."

"No one is powerful enough," Gaara said.

"Too powerful for Konoha," Sora said. "But also powerful enough to protect people like me."

"Naruto… Sora… what are you doing?"

"I'm going to create a village," the demon-like man said.

"Do you know how impossible that is?" Gaara asked. "Besides, you would be attacked until there was nothing left."

"I've already started," Sora said softly and the redhead stopped. "It's on a safe location, and it's protected."

"By what? Some children like Yokaze that you dragged with you?" Gaara asked angrily. His friend must have lost his mind during these two years he had been gone.

Sora said nothing at first. He looked at Gaara, and then down.

"Do you think I'm crazy?" he asked and looked back up into the green eyes.

"Yes."

Sora smiled.

"We all are," he replied and spread his hands before explaining, "Kyuubi is watching the village. He will protect them. I usually bring the children there the quickest I can, there is always someone willing to take care of them all but with Yokaze… he grew onto me, and he… he wants to be with me."

"Do you kill in front of him?" Gaara asked.

"No," the man said. "He knows I do it though. He doesn't mind."

"How do you know?" the redhead asked. "Maybe he's terrified."

"He says I smell of blood and sakura blossoms, that I smell of _death_. He likes it. He likes having me close, so he can feel the smell of blood radiating from me."

The Kazekage closed his eyes, rubbed his forehead.

"I don't know you anymore," Gaara said. "You're too different from before. Do what you want with your village, but you hate Konoha and I'm allied with them. I can't help you." He was not sure he wanted to.

Sora looked at Gaara, and the redhead wondered how quick the demon-like man could draw the katana. Would his sand be able to protect him from the monster sitting in front of him?

"I knew you would say that," Sora said. "You have turned into a better person, and wouldn't listen to a half-crazy demon like myself. Yet I came here. I guess… I wanted to see a familiar face of someone who once understood my pain. I shouldn't have brought my chaos to you."

He rose up, picked the katana up and Gaara rose up as well.

"Don't," Sora said and looked at him. "I don't want to say farewell or anything. I don't think… I would be able to take it from you."

Sora opened the door and Gaara's siblings looked up as did Yokaze. The demon-like man stuck his katana into his belt, walked over and lifted the boy up.

"Sora-san?" he asked.

"We're leaving," Sora replied. "Gaara is a busy man, we shouldn't waste his time."

Gaara came to the door opening, began to call out Sora's name when Sora turned to him.

"Don't," the demon-like man said. "I'm sorry for coming here. You won't see me again."

"Wait-!"

The man had vanished.

-o-

"Was it too hard?" Sora asked.

Yokaze opened his eyes and shook his head. They had trained so Yokaze could transport people through air. It was somewhat his gift, being able to move through air like it was nothing. Sometimes become the air itself. They had tried this particular trick a few times, and this was the second time the boy had been successful.

"It was great," Sora said. "In a few years, this will be as natural as breathing. Did you get tired?"

"A little bit."

"I'll carry you to the next village."

"What did you speak about with Gaara-san?" the boy asked as Sora began to walk.

"This and that," Sora said, looking at Yokaze. "Even though he may hate me now, he is a friend of mine. Don't hate him."

"Why do you like someone who hates you?"

"It's hard to explain. I'm not sure if he hates me. Maybe a little he does."

The boy looked at the man for a while and then said:

"Even if he does, I don't."

"I know that," Sora said, smiling. "And I'm grateful for that."

-o-

It did not take Gaara more than two days to start searching for where Sora was going to build his new village. He sent messages, researched himself and asked around.

Temari and Kankuro watched him work with that additional to his normal work-load and within two weeks it was clear he was running himself to the ground.

"Gaara," Kankuro said. "You're exhausted, and frustrated. Why not just let it go?"

"I can't," Gaara said. "Once I was like that. I was a monster, killing everything. I have to see him again; I can help him out of it. There is still a human side in him, you could see it on the way he handled Yokaze."

"How did he handle the boy?" Temari asked.

"Like it was his family. For Naru—Sora, the boy probably is the only family he has."

-o-

Kyuubi did not worry often. The demon avoided it if he could. It was so pointless doing it.

But now he did. He watched Sora walk into the still-building village with Yokaze, and in additional two children along with a young woman.

The normal Sora would walk into the huge gates of the village with his head high and more often than not a playful smile on his lips.

This Sora was subdued. Eyes empty, perhaps the slightest twinge of pain in them. Yokaze held his hand as usual but looked up at him too often.

Now he turned and spoke a little to the woman. She looked over at Hijutsu, standing a bit away with his normal cloth around his eyes and speaking to Kageenja, and nodded. She took the children's hands and walked to the two young men.

"Sora."

The demon-like man looked up at Kyuubi and said to Yokaze:

"Why don't you go to Jiraiya? He should be by my house."

The boy nodded and ran off.

"What's wrong?" Kyuubi asked.

"I visited Gaara," Sora said.

"What? Sora, did you say who you really were?"

"Yes."

Kyuubi could hit him. But as he turned to shout at Sora, there was tears running down the younger man's eyes. The demon stopped in his tracks, too shocked to speak. Sora had not cried for some time, and he had always been a noisy person when he cried. Now… he was too silent.

"I think it was a mistake," Sora said. "But I was glad to have seen him… maybe for the last time."

He wiped away the tears, like he had done as a child, and walked away. Kyuubi did not have it in him to stop him.

-o-

Gaara did not really know why he had come here. Why he was on a boat going to Death's Cliff, end destination the demon village that was being built.

Temari and Kankuro were quiet beside him. They refused to leave him, and he had then left Baku in charge in Suna. He grabbed the railing, looked over the water. Why was his desire so big to see Sora after the man leaving? Why did Gaara want to help him so badly? Was it because back then, Naruto had been his first friend?

But Sora was not the Naruto he had known. Sora was… too strange. Too foreign. Not even his smiles were the same. The eyes, cold, hard, just like his own had been years ago. It was like the monster had moved from Gaara to Naruto, giving birth to Sora.

Was there something left of Naruto inside of the demon-like man?

Gaara was not sure.

-o-

Sora looked up as he felt Gaara's chakra closing in. Several people stopped working, tensing up. They had felt it too, along with Temari's and Kankuro's.

"It's alright," he called to them all. "I know who it is. Keep working, I'll talk to them outside."

He heaved up the last load of his work and went towards the gates. He was dressed in simple black combat pants and a black vest with dark orange lining. His hair was up in a braid, Yokaze had made it so the hair would not get stuck somewhere.

He and Yokaze had been in the village for the last week but it was soon due for him to wander and seek people who wished for a new life. Yokaze would probably ask to follow, and despite it all Sora would not be able to refuse.

He came to the gates and saw the three Suna siblings were closer than he thought.

"Sora-sama?" Kotou asked. He was one of the few watching out for enemies.

"It's alright," he said and held up a hand. Kotou's hand left the katana. Sora looked back at the foreigners and said to Kotou, "Tell the others to go inside while I talk with our visitors."

The white-haired man nodded and called out:

"Everyone, inside!"

Gaara, Temari and Kankuro were startled when all people suddenly left their work and walked through the gates, leaving Sora alone outside. The man found a towel and wiped his face.

"Why are you here?" he called out.

"I wanted to see you," Gaara said.

Sora looked at him, towel in one of his hands. Eyes empty.

"Now you have," he said flatly. "Anything else?"

"You aren't a monster," Gaara said. "I'm sorry if that's what you thought I imagined you to be."

"I am a monster, Gaara," Sora said. "To you, to Temari-san and Kankuro-san, to Konoha, to the world I am a monster. But you know what? Here, in this village, unfinished as it is, I'm not a monster. I'm like an angel that came and saved them from hell."

Gaara saw a small girl look at them by the gates, hiding most of herself behind it. Her eyes were white, her skin pale and she had bandages on her arms. Someone had hurt her. She did not even look to be ten years old but her injuries told the redhead someone must have tried to even kill her. For what?

Sora saw his attention was elsewhere and turned around.

"Yasha," he said gently. "What's wrong?"

"Who are they, are they gonna hurt us, and Makai's being stupid again," she said.

Sora smiled a bit.

"They are guests from Suna. No, they are not going to hurt us. Makai is probably fooling around, so just ignore him."

Yasha looked at the demon-like man and said:

"The kids say my eyes look stupid."

Sora frowned.

"Tell me later who, and I'll talk to them. Just ignore them for now," he said and rubbed his forehead. "No, no, tell Kageenja who it is so he can deal with it now."

"'Kay," she said and looked once more at the Suna siblings who stared at them. "Are you sure they're not going to hurt us?"

"Yes, I'm sure," Sora said. "Now run to Kageenja."

She nodded happily and was off.

"The kids are going to be the end of me," Sora muttered, rubbing his forehead again. "What do you want me to say or do, Gaara?"

"Do they really see you as an angel?" Gaara asked.

"Angel, leader, saviour," Sora said. "Many things. I prefer none of those titles. Everyone has the right to live the way they want. You're allied with Konoha. At this very moment, Konoha makes me very, very angry. So go home."

"Wait!"

"For what?" Sora said and looked at Gaara. "Wait until I get sane again? I will never be who I once was, Gaara. You should think your friend, Naruto… as a dead person. He's dead. He's gone. I was born instead. The moment Kyuubi ripped himself out of the body, Naruto died."

"Change name, behaviour, looks whatever you want," the redhead said. "You are still that kid somewhere deep inside of you."

Sora's smile was strange, off. Somewhat stiff.

"Go home, Gaara," he said.

"Demon!"

Gaara, Temari and Kankuro whipped around. A group of thirty people stood not too far from them, all shinobis or at least dressed like one.

"What?" Gaara mumbled.

"What do you want?" Sora called out.

"You will cease building your demon-village and get the hell away from this part of the world!" the leader shouted. "You demons should just go and die!"

Now people came to the gates and the huge walls, gathered with various tools that they could use to hurt with, perhaps kill. Few had experience of fighting but would protect their new safe-haven.

Kotou stood in front of Sora and held a hand on the katana in his belt. The demon-like man moved a bit so he could stand side by side with the white-haired man and called back:

"We don't want any war! All we want is a place where we can live!"

"Demons should die!" the leader continued. "Do as we say, or else we get rid of this brat!"

Sora's eyes widened.

They held a sword to Yokaze's throat. The boy did not move, eyes wide open in fear.

"He doesn't look like a demon, but he is, right?" the leader said maliciously. "And we heard he's closest to the leader demon, the tall one with black-red hair and purple eyes. So give it up, leader-demon, and go to hell where you all belong!"

Gaara felt anger. Shukaku growled inside of him, either loving the anger blossoming or actually trying to calm the redhead down. For once, Gaara was sure it was the latter.

Last time he had felt this kind of anger had been when they banished Naruto. Now he felt the same anger because of the cowardice of the group not far from them. They threatened to kill a child just to get what they wanted.

There was no way they could take out thirty people and still protect the child. There was no sand for him to work with, nothing he could use. The people behind him were ready to defend the village, but they were no shinobis. Few of them probably knew how to fight properly.

Then something went through the air.

It was subtle, mere whispers of what to come. Gentle waves that got stronger rather than weaker the further away they went. Waves of…

_Chakra. Holy shit, this thing is someone's chakra?_

Gaara turned around. He would never forget the sight.

Sora's hair had sprung free from the braid, floating in the air due to the pressure of the demonic chakra he was releasing. His eyes were white, shining, teeth bared like a wild animal. He was a bit crouched down, ready to attack. He felt like a monster with all that evil chakra swirling around him.

No, scratch 'felt like'. He _was_ a monster.

"Sora-san," Yokaze whispered. Without noticing, the man holding the sword pressed it closer, cutting through the skin a few beads of blood rolled down Yokaze's throat.

A shift of the chakra. Fear mixed with the rage and Gaara's eyes widened. A monster did not feel fear. He had not felt fear when he killed. That meant…

Either Sora just cared unnaturally much for Yokaze for being a monster, or he still had human feelings left. Buried deep, perhaps he did not understand it but he still had them. He still had a human's soul.

Sora felt rage and fear mix together. _Not Yokaze_. The child was dear to him. He knew he was not a monster. He had feelings, he cared for Yokaze. But if he had to turn into a monster to help Yokaze, he would.

If he had to die for the child, he would as well. He took the first step.

A ripple went through the air when Sora began to release all chakra he had. Gaara turned around as a wind started, stared at Sora. The demon-like man began to shine. Demonic chakra was supposed to be dark… right?

How come it felt so light?

Another ripple as Sora took a step. Gaara was not sure if he thought he was going to defeat all thirty men at the same time but he hoped not. Gaara himself maybe could finish off twenty of them. There was no way Sora could handle ten more alone.

He could not be that strong.

Sora looked around at the group, felt his people's fear for the group, not for him. His power encouraged them.

How many would he be able to take out? Not all of them; that was just ridiculous trying to hope for that. Demonic power in all honour, it did not make him to a god. He just had to get help from his people then.

"Kageenja!"

His voice was different. It echoed. It was a growling edge to it.

Kageenja got down on one knee, hands in a seal. He was ready. The Suna siblings stared at him. He looked to be too thin to be a real fighter, but you never knew with a shinobi.

"Hijutsu!"

The man moved into a ready position. A blind man, fighting? Or was he blind?

"Konchuu, Kotou!"

The two men stepped forward, Konchuu with his hands stretched out, palms towards the enemy while Kotou drew his katana.

Sora felt the demonic chakra eat at his insides. He was still getting used to it. It did not like being released all at once. For once, he did not care. He did not do this for himself. He did this for someone else.

He smiled and began to run.

Gaara wanted to stop Sora, he really wanted to. It was something deeply _wrong_, something did not fit. There was no way you could use that kind of power without consequences.

"Kill the fucking brat!" the leader screamed.

Sora blurred out of view, and a moment later tore off a man's head, the one holding the sword. He grabbed Yokaze around the middle, pulled the boy safe to his chest as he made a sweep with his hand out, chakra tearing away from it and like a wave travelled towards the men.

They made ready to run but were stuck. Gaara recognized the effect and whipped his head around.

Kageenja grinned, his shadow slicking around the men, rising up from the ground like black flames. The technique in its basic was that of a Nara's but this man… he did not use Nara techniques. This shadow had a life of its own, like he had gone a step further than the Naras.

Hijutsu and Kotou began running and Konchuu closed his eyes. Insects came from everywhere, the man moving his hands like he was directing music. The insects followed his tune and soon screams filled the air.

Gaara looked on as five people, _five people_, took out thirty shinobis in such a short amount of time. That was something he rarely, if ever, saw.

As soon as it had begun, it was over. At first it was all quiet and Gaara wondered if someone was going to shout 'demon'.

He was wrong.

"Sora-sama!" The Suna siblings whipped their heads to see a young woman. She had shouted it.

"Sora-sama!" This time a small boy. They all seemed in awe of the powers the men had displayed. Gaara understood why they saw Sora like an angel.

Then suddenly a shrill yell, coming from Kageenja:

"SORA!"

Not even caring that Kageenja seemed more familiar with Sora, Gaara turned around. His blood froze.

Sora fell to his knees, blood bubbling out from his mouth. Yokaze was still in his arms, unharmed. The demonic chakra had partly destroyed Sora's insides and he fell to the ground.

Immediately Kageenja was up and running. Konchuu, Hijutsu and Kotou were not far behind, the white-haired man screaming to the crowds:

"Healer! A healer now!"

A woman separated from the crowd, she was a healer, and ran towards where their leader had fallen. Gaara finally got his feet moving and followed, Temari and Kankuro not late to follow.

Sora's eyes were half-lidded, and blank. Yokaze held his small hands to Sora's chest, as if he could heal the man himself.

"Sora-san," he sobbed. It was then Gaara realized the man's chest was not moving.

Sora was not breathing.

"Let me through!"

The healer fell to her knees and bean working. Gaara knew it was impossible; how could you heal someone who had stopped breathing? He himself stood rooted to the place, not being able to sort out his feelings.

_Sora was… dead?_

A man came forward suddenly to them, looking like he had run through the village to get to them. His vibrant red hair and red eyes was really familiar…

It struck Gaara then who it was. He recalled Sora saying it, the one who watched the village when Sora was not there to do it.

_Kyuubi_. The greatest Biju in the world.

Kyuubi kneeled down next to Sora's prone body, moved Yokaze and the healer away and put his hand on Sora's chest. He closed his eyes, splayed out the hand and pushed. A strange red-like substance, transparent, came out of him and went into Sora.

"Stupid fucking brat," the demon muttered. "Should never have told him how to do it, he's out to give me a heart attack."

"Kyuubi-sama?" the healer said. Gaara blinked; they were not afraid of him?

"I got it," he told her, "get everyone back into the village. Someone, get rid of the corpses. Yokaze, stop pulling my arm. He's alive."

"He is?" Yokaze asked, tears in the corners of his eyes. Kyuubi reached out and wiped them away before smiling briefly at the boy.

"He's a stupid idiot, but he was good enough to do this fucking suicidal stunt where I can reach him," the demon said.

"Stunt?" the boy asked.

"He calls upon his demonic chakra, and releases it. Gives him that speed and all. Can't say the strength to rip a man's head off, he got that already. But the waves of chakra, they were created by demonic chakra. However… he is not used to it yet, so the chakra gets upset and starts eating away on his…"

"On his what?" Temari asked.

"On his intestines," Kyuubi said. "He's lost half of his heart, and bits of both lungs. That's why he didn't breathe."

Sora's eyes moved slowly.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, idiot," Kyuubi informed. "Do that again, and I'll save the trouble and kill you myself."

Talking only brought more blood and Kyuubi put the top of his fingers against Sora's lips.

"Don't speak," he said. "Geez, and people call you a monster. You'd do that again in no time if it meant to save the brat?" He ruffled Yokaze's hair.

Gaara saw it, and felt that Sora was more human than he thought.

The demon-like man smiled. But not just any smile. He smiled the smile he used to show to Gaara in the past, when he was still Naruto; the only smile that had been sincere.

-o-

**A few months later**

"Is Yokaze asleep?"

Sora turned and looked at Gaara who sat down by the kitchen table before turning back to the tea he was heating up. It was soon done.

"Yes, he passed out like a light a half-hour ago," he said with a small smile.

"How are you doing?"

"Me? I'm fine," the man said as he poured tea into two cups and put the cups down on the table before sitting down.

"Kyuubi had to work for an entire day to replace your lungs and heart," Gaara said. "Not to mention you lost one of your kidneys."

Sora looked at the redhead and said:

"Am I still a monster?"

"Define monster to me first and I'll get to you as soon as I can," Gaara said. "But I think I can say without being wrong that everyone has a little monster living inside of them. No one is a saint."

"But some are humans at least."

"You are human, no matter what people have said," Gaara said. "Learn that. Yokaze says you hurt yourself."

"Talk about change of the subject," the demon-like man muttered and looked away a bit.

"Just tell me. Are you?"

"Am I what?"

"Hurting yourself," Gaara said, taking a sip of the tea, eyes never leaving the other man.

Sora rolled up his sleeve as a response.

One of the wounds was new. Gaara put down the cup and traced the wound with his finger.

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"I don't know," Sora said. "It helps me focus."

"You're hurting yourself," Gaara hissed. "There are other things you can do to help you focus. You don't have to get a kunai and carve your arm open."

Sora tugged his arm back and rolled down the sleeve.

"The chakra heals the wounds," he said. "Barely leave any mark behind."

"I don't care about that!" the redhead. "You're my friend, and I don't want anything to hurt you, not even when it comes from your own hands."

"I wasn't your friend at first."

"Not that again. I told you I was stupid like everyone else," Gaara said. "I think we need to have a rematch where you can kick my ass again for my stupidity back then."

Sora was quiet, sipped his tea. Gaara sighed, frustrated.

"I don't know what else to do," Sora said suddenly.

"Just stop with it," Gaara said. "I'm telling Kyuubi."

Sora said nothing.

-o-

"Go back to bed."

Sora, who had been looking at the night sky from his place on the window sill, turned his head to see Hijutsu coming into the room. His cloth was gone, his eyes silver springs in the darkness of the room. He had not opened them fully. He was wearing a night-robe over his sleeping clothes.

"How did you know I was here?" Sora asked and tilted his head.

"It's not hard to feel your chakra," Hijutsu dead-panned. "It's cold and you're clearly uncomfortable. Back to bed with you."

"You have a place of your own," Sora said. "You go back to bed. Why are you sleeping in my house again?"

"Because there is a severe leak at my place," Hijutsu said and crossed his arms. "Yokaze had a nightmare, he's awake now."

Sora uncurled and got up, clad only in a pair of sleeping pants.

"You go back to bed, you're leaving early tomorrow," Sora said. "I will try and not end up on the floor again. I need to get Yokaze a bigger futon if I wish to remain on it for the entire night without problems. That boy is worse than a propeller."

Hijutsu smiled at that.

-o-

Yokaze was startled when he heard:

"You're not sleeping."

He turned around and saw Sora smile before he closed the door. The eight-year old watched his saviour walk across the room and sink down on the futon right next to the child. Yokaze waited until he was comfortable before hugging the man hard.

"It's alright," the demon-like man said and cradled Yokaze's skull. "Did you have a bad dream?"

"Yeah… don't you have bad dreams?"

"Sometimes," Sora said. "Everyone has."

Yokaze found a nice spot to rest his head against and closed his eyes. His breath sent warm puffs against Sora's neck. The man strokes the black hair absently and continued:

"What did you dream about?"

"Everyone was gone," the boy said, "and I was chased again. This time, when I fell… there was no one there to help me…"

Sora held the child close and said:

"Only a bad dream, Yokaze. You're here with me now. No one is going to hurt you."

"I know that but the nightmare felt so real!" the boy said and held fistfuls of Sora's hair in his hands.

Sora tucked Yokaze in more snugly before lifting the child's head so he could look Yokaze in the eyes. Sora smiled and kissed the boy's forehead before saying, lips moving softly against the smooth skin:

"All nightmares feel real. I know how they feel. But you learn from them. I learned I never wanted to be that weak again. Do you want to be that helpless again?"

"No!"

"Then learn from your nightmare. Set it as a goal to never again revert to that person you was in the nightmare," Sora said and once more looked the boy in the eyes. "Can you promise me that?"

"Yeah."

"Good. Now try to sleep."

Yokaze nodded and his head fell back where it had been resting in the crook of Sora's neck. His breaths were deep and relaxed, much to Sora's relief.

He closed his eyes.

-o-

Yokaze looked at the raw scars on Sora's arms, careful enough to not let the half-asleep man notice. He bit his lip as he put down the cup of tea.

He was ten years old now, and Sora was still hurting himself. No one knew why, and no one could make him stop. Yokaze just wanted it to stop.

"Something wrong, Yokaze?" Sora asked.

The boy looked up and mutely shook his head.

"You sure?" the demon-like man asked worriedly.

"I'm worried… about you."

"About me?" the man said.

Yokaze nodded.

"You don't have to be worried about me," Sora said.

"The wounds…"

Sora looked down, turning his arm so he could see the scars as well on his more tender flesh by the wrist.

"Oh…" he said. "That. I'm sorry, Yokaze, I'm trying my best to stop being stupid… but I guess I was out of it yesterday."

"Do you need to heal that? I could call for a healer…"

"No, there is no need for that. I'm not going to do much today," the man said. "Except for reading my eyes out."

Yokaze smiled briefly at that but too soon it vanished. Sora stopped eating and stretched out a hand to hold one of Yokaze's smaller ones.

"I'm doing the best I can," the man said. "Just… when you feel like it, or when you feel like I'm losing it; hit me on the head and tell me what an idiot I am."

-o-

Gaara looked up the walls, a bit impressed.

"What do you think?"

He jumped and turned around. Sora smirked at him before looking up the walls.

"Don't frighten me like that!" the redhead growled. "Why so high though?"

"Paranoia," Sora said and shrugged. "Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"I don't know. I let the people decide what height."

"Talking about people, they're building a tower for you aren't they?"

"I told them I didn't need one!" Sora whined as the two walked through the gates. "I swear it was Yokaze who made them do it!"

"I made them do what?"

This time Sora jumped before he whirled around. Fourteen-year old Yokaze, dressed in a new white cloak, smiled at them both.

"Nice," Sora said, forgetting the question for a bit as he looked the cloak over.

"Well, they did their best," the teen said and shrugged. "The masks are going to be finished next week."

"Masks?" Gaara asked. "Sora, have I missed something that you would like to share with me?"

"When we're out on missions to get money to the village not everyone was very keen of showing their faces or bodies," the demon-like man said. "So I made this up instead. This is neutral and people can hide behind them."

"Why white?" the redhead said as he looked the white cloak over.

"I don't really know," Sora said. "White was the thing everyone voted for. Although in my opinion blood looks really bad on white."

"That means we're going to become too awesome to be hit by any blood or get any blood on us," Yokaze said.

"Don't get cocky brat," the man said fondly and ruffled Yokaze's neatly done hair.

"Hey!"

Gaara smiled at the scene. Sora had gotten better the longer they worked on building the village. It would still be a while before they would be able to call themselves a Hidden village, hell even call themselves a village but when they would Gaara knew he would ally Suna with them.

He did not know how Sora felt about Konoha but knew he would never loose his friend for such a thing. Now when Sora had become so dear to him, maybe even more than before, Gaara would not give it up. Never.

Tbc…

* * *

Finally done people!

Chapter 13, LAST CHAPTER –sob- : Orochimaru attacks Konoha, and despite having both Konoha and Suna fighting it's not enough. Will Sora help them or not?

Look forward to it, note it might take some time to get it out!

Until later,

Ja,

Tiro


	13. Chapter 13

**Hard to Forgive**

**Summary**: Banished from Konoha after an accident with Kyuubi, Naruto swears to come back too powerful to be brought down. Years pass with no sign. Until they hear a Hidden Village has risen, and its' residents are demons and outcasts. Will they find Naruto there?

**Pairing/s**: None.

**Warnings**: Strong!Naruto, Demon!Naruto, some people-bashing, blood, violence… maybe some more, I don't know.

**Disclaimers**: Does it look like I own Naruto? I didn't think so either…

**UPDATED 2011-07-15**

-o-

**Chapter Thirteen**

Tsunade rubbed her forehead and looked over the map. Gaara watched her carefully.

"Orochimaru's people are here," she said and pointed it out to the redhead. "They are moving directly towards us."

"How many people?" Gaara asked softly.

"I don't know," she answered. "A lot. Most of them with curse seals. Some were promised to be released from the curse if they fought."

"And they fell for it."

"Gaara, they're too crazy to even see the difference between what is good and what is evil."

-o-

"Sora-san?"

Sora looked up from his reading to see Yokaze look at him.

"What's wrong?" Sora asked.

"Konchuu got information that Orochimaru is going to attack Konoha. Another piece was that Gaara-sama was already in Konoha, but their forces won't be enough. They have too many civilians to protect."

Sora leaned back in his chair and looked at the young man for a long time.

"What should we do?" Yokaze said. "We're allied to both Konoha and Suna…"

"Yes, what should we do?" Sora said and looked out the window. "I only made the alliance with Konoha so they wouldn't attack us."

"I know that," the younger one said. "Still, Suna is there."

Sora said nothing.

-o-

Tsunade looked over the village from the Tower with sad eyes. In a few days, Orochimaru would be here and she had to meet her old team-mate once more. If only Jiraiya had been with her… she would have felt much more confident. As it stood now, she felt old and weak. It was not enough people. Konoha stood no chance.

She closed her eyes to shut away any tears that might fall and suddenly a voice behind her:

"I sent a word to Chigakure."

She turned around and looked at Gaara. He shrugged and continued:

"I don't know if they wish to help… Konoha after the various incidents."

"We'll see," she said. "I would love to have help from one more village, but I have no idea how many people are fighters in Chigakure."

"Trust me," Gaara said as he walked up to her, "they don't need to be many to be strong."

-o-

Sora read through the note as he stroke the feathers of the bird sitting on the arm of his chair. Afterwards he looked down on the bird and said:

"It's a war going on. But I'm of mixed opinions. What should I do?"

"You can begin with stop speaking to the bird."

He looked up and Yokaze walked into the room.

"Who was it from?" the younger man asked as he put down a tray with two cups and tea.

"Gaara," Sora said. "I'm really of mixed opinions now."

"I don't want Konoha to be saved by us either," Yokaze said and sat down in front of the desk. Sora watched him and he continued, "I may like some of the people, but the village isn't worth being saved by us."

"I don't mind the village with various people to burn," the demon-like man said. "But I don't want Tsunade-hime and the others to loose."

"Then we go but state quite clearly we aren't fighting for the village," Yokaze said.

"Oh, if it only was that simple," Sora sighed.

-o-

It was soon time. Tsunade watched the shinobis closing in on Konoha, closed her eyes for a moment and wished she was somewhere else, preferably dead.

Orochimaru's mocking laughter could be heard, faint echoes and her hands tightened at her sides. She opened her eyes again, jaws clenched. He would not win. She would not lose to him one more time, even if this fight would require her life. She would not give him the pleasure to go back to the Sound village ever again.

Today he would die, even if she had to die with him. She looked at the people around her. Sneering, badmouthing Chigakure, the Onikage, demanding to know why he was not here and fighting with them. Sakura caught the Hokage's eyes and said mockingly:

"The demons didn't come, did they? They didn't even bother answering. Shows us what they truly are."

"Tell me, Sakura, if one distrusts you, you know they talk badly about you behind your back and would love to get rid of you, would you fight with them?"

"Of course not!" she said.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow and said:

"Then it's not wonder why Onikage isn't here. One shouldn't fight against enemies with the help of other enemies."

She could not help but still think about Onikage saying he was the one to kill Orochimaru. Seems like he was not going to do it. She would do it for him. She had to.

-o-

"Has he been like that the whole day?" Kageenja asked Mebana. She nodded and looked at Sora. The man was staring out the window but they both knew he was not looking at anything.

Kageenja walked into the room and said:

"You're freaking us all out, Sora. Decide."

"Decide?" Sora said and looked at the man. "There are no easy decisions."

"Yeah, but you have to make one now," Kageenja said. "And that fast."

"I have made my decision," the man said and looked back out the window. "Now I'm just waiting."

"What? Waiting for news about the fall of Konoha and Suna?" Kageenja asked as Konchuu and Hijutsu walked into the room, Hijutsu leading Mekura.

"No," Sora said. "Waiting for _him_."

-o-

"You still have the chance," Tsunade said. "You can call everyone back. No one will find any faults in that."

Gaara looked at her.

"You really are an idiot," he said and she looked up at him. "I won't do that. I don't like Konoha, but I have people here I care for. You are bound to fight for Konoha. Everyone that is a Konoha shinobi is bound to fight for the village."

"This village earns to burn."

"The village perhaps… not you," Gaara said with a mysterious smile before he moved away. Tsunade was left looking after his retreating back.

Gaara looked at the still waiting troops in the village. They would be moving soon outside the village. It was near-empty, the civilians having been evacuated.

Suddenly an eagle landed on his shoulder, startling everyone around him but himself. He took the message, tied to the leg and said:

"That's a good boy."

He folded up the note and read it. And then as requested at the end, he set it on flames and watched it turn to ashes in his hand. He curled his hand around the ash, waited for the wind to then let it go.

-o-

Sora looked at himself in the mirror, feeling an unnatural calm settle within him. The same emptiness that had nearly devoured him before he met Yokaze, before he for real began to build up a home for himself and for people like himself.

"You're thinking of the past."

His eyes locked with the speaker's through the mirror. Red eyes narrowed slightly, a hissing voice continuing:

"You don't have to. Let Konoha burn."

"I will," Sora said gently. "The village shall burn but not in the material way. It shall grow in the dark, edging its way onto the streets, worming itself into people's hearts and blacken their minds."

"What about your _precious people_?"

"If they don't understand my anger and hatred, then the precious people are no more," Sora said shortly and broke eye-contact to grab a scroll. Clawed hands stopped him, forced him upright and now the voice was at his ear:

"You're lying. Don't lie to me."

"I will abandon them… how much it will pain me to be betrayed again, I will still abandon them if they still don't get it."

"I can kill them," the speaker said soothingly. "For you, I can kill them."

"How about killing those I hate?"

"I can do that too."

Sora looked up into Kyuubi's face and the demon grinned.

-o-

Enkai looked around the commotion in the office, sitting on the desk while the others ran around. Her father entered and her eyes widened.

Sora was dressed in combat-pants, a black vest and his hair up tightly in a braid, he was also wearing fingerless gloves up to his elbows and had four scrolls resting on his hip. His chakra was pulsing.

"Daddy?"

Sora walked up to her and said:

"Be a good girl and don't give Kyuubi-ojisan any troubles, okay? We should be back soon."

"Where are you going, daddy?" she asked.

"I'm going to help Gaara-ojisan for a bit," Sora said. "He is in a bit of a trouble."

"Are you gonna fight?"

"Yes. Not with Gaara-ojisan but with those who are mean to him. There are some lessons that need to be taught to some," the man said. "Be good to Kyuubi-ojisan, okay?"

Enkai nodded. Sora turned to the others and Yokaze nodded. They all placed their hands on him and he made a seal. Wind worked through the room, and a moment later they were all gone, leaving Enkai and Kyuubi alone in the room.

"There we go," Kyuubi said and lifted her up. "They're going to be just fine."

"But if they need help…"

"Don't worry," he said and looked at the girl. "Daddy and Kyuubi-ojisan always have a back-up plan. Trust us."

-o-

Gaara wiped blood away from his face, irritated with it and met Tsunade, their backs together.

"How are you holding up?" she asked.

"I'm fine, but there are way too many shinobis on Orochimaru's side. Both normal ones and crazy ones."

A blast separated the two and when the dust cleared, Tsunade's eyes grew larger.

Gaara was being held down and Orochimaru was slowly closing in on them.

"Killing one of the leaders will make this all easier," he said and grinned widely. "But I don't want you dead too quickly, Tsunade, that's why Gaara-san is the one who has to go. This technique is specially designed to keep Gaara down until we're finished with him."

"No!"

Tsunade was thrown away once more and she tried to get up. Kabuto appeared and held her down easily.

"Sasuke!" she screamed but he was too far away to hear her. "Someone!"

"They're all too busy with their own fights to save him," Orochimaru said. "Don't worry, Tsunade, I'll kill him quickly."

He raised the sword he was holding, looked at Gaara who still tried to get loose but the bounds did not move one inch, not even with Shukaku's strength. The demon screamed in Gaara's mind.

The sword fell.

-o-

It never hit the Kazekage. All around stared in shock. They could not move.

The sword went right through Sora's torso. Blood dripped from his chin down into Gaara's face and the red-haired man stared up at his friend. Sora gave out a scream full with rage, grabbed onto Orochimaru and threw him away from them both.

He rose up, staggering, with the sword still inside of him and screamed out:

"Kageenja!"

The man appeared from the shadows, _was_ shadow and he wound himself around two Sound shinobis, breaking their necks easily.

Hijutsu kicked away Kabuto and Mebana appeared.

"Mebana, you deal with him!" Hijutsu said, waving at the direction he had kicked away Kabuto. His cloth was gone but Tsunade did not get a look of his eyes. "Konchuu, seems like Sasuke-san requires some help."

Konchuu appeared from nowhere and walked to Sasuke with no great hurry. Hijutsu walked forward and without warning yanked the sword out of Sora.

"What are you doing?" Tsunade shrieked. "He could be severely damaged!"

To their horror Sora just licked his lips and then said:

"Makai and Yasha are with me. Meikon, make sure Mebana is safe."

The man appeared, and the weapon he was carrying made them from Konoha and Suna widen their eyes. The heavy-looking scythe was slung over one shoulder, like it was nothing and he nodded shortly to Sora before walking over to his sister.

Sora took a deep breath, coughed and looked at Orochimaru.

"The demon decided to help the village who hates demons," Orochimaru spat. "How pathetic isn't that?"

"Who the fuck said I'm helping Konoha?" Sora said. "There is a difference between helping those you care for, and a village."

"So if I put Konoha in flames, you won't care?"

"I won't," Sora assured the snake-like man, ignoring all Konoha shinobis around him. However, they did not ignore him.

"I told you!" Sakura shouted at Tsunade. "I told you the demon would never care!"

Orochimaru grinned and looked around a bit. He spotted Yokaze a bit away and screamed to Kabuto:

"Kabuto, proceed with the plan!"

Kabuto tore himself loose from the fight with Mebana and got out something before he dashed away. Sora saw where he was going though and screamed:

"Yokaze!"

The man turned, saw Kabuto and focused. He vanished from sight but Kabuto had memorized where he stood. He managed to grab the invisible man and there was a struggle. Sora was tempted to run over but Orochimaru was still there. Makai and Yasha for all their powers could probably not defeat Orochimaru and Tsunade and Gaara had to rest. Sakura was too busy to be gloating so she was useless… not that she had been of use anytime.

"I would like to try something," Orochimaru said, to get Sora's attention away from what they were doing. "If I do the same technique on you as I did on Gaara, will you also be unable to move?"

Sora said nothing. A sudden yelp alerted him.

Yokaze tore away from Kabuto, bleeding from his arm. Sora's eyes widened. There was no way Yokaze could be injured…

"You look surprised," Orochimaru said in glee. "Kabuto finally came up with something that would make Yokaze… a real human for a few minutes. Try protecting him now."

The man jumped away from Kabuto's advances and landed behind Sora.

"You think he's defenceless once he's mortal?" Sora asked with a snort. "How naïve."

"What?" Orochimaru said, confused. Sora raised an eyebrow; they really thought that. Pathetic. He closed his eyes and said:

"Yokaze."

The man rose up and held out an arm. The wind began to move around him.

"The first thing I did was to train him to become strong as a mortal," Sora said and opened his eyes again. "Then I taught him to become air, just like he was born to be. He was born to be a wind, the air, but sometimes even the air needs to know how to protect itself."

A spear formed from the wind and soon Yokaze held a solid one in his hand. It was covered with markings of no known language and he held it easily.

"He's not a helpless child," Sora said and coughed. The wound had yet to heal, so it was a bit annoying that it hurt for each time he spoke. He ignored the pain and continued, "Had he been one, wouldn't he be here from the start."

Yokaze looked at them and Sora glanced over at him.

"I'll be fine, Sora-san," he said. "Don't focus on me, focus on yourself."

"I have to focus on you," Sora said with a bright grin that made Tsunade's eyes widen. It looked like one of Naruto's smiles. "Without you, there is almost no reason for me to live."

It was the closest Sora could say 'I love you' without saying the actual words. Yokaze felt his chest and throat constrict but managed to remain calm.

"Go," Sora said, his grin softening to a gentle smile. "Focus on yourself, not me."

Yokaze rolled his eyes and vanished with a swirl of wind, appearing again within a group of Sound shinobis. Screams filled the air a moment later from whatever he did and Sora turned back his attention to Orochimaru. It felt weird to just stand and talk to someone on a battlefield but he was not going to just start fighting without Tsunade and Gaara recovering.

Tsunade looked at Sora and understood he was not going to help Konoha. He did not have to either. She had assigned a lot of people to protect the village. If Sora just wanted to protect some of the people, fine. But she still wondered a bit why he was set of just a few people. Was it because she said basically the whole village was the same, filled with demon-hating people? And his smile… her mind was working overload, a gentle thought at the back of her mind nagging at her.

Whatever it was, this was not the time to be thinking such things.

-o-

Sora seriously wondered how long time it would take for them to understand. It seemed like forever. He felt he had dropped too many hints to them but apparently not. They had not become wiser over the years he had been gone.

Oh well, it was not his problem. His problem was the hole in his fucking torso and the pain it gave. It was annoying. It was healing, but it healed slowly. Cuts and grazes he was used to, but a hole right through you was a bit more.

He blinked away his dizziness and focused on Orochimaru. The man was waiting for the moment to strike and he felt the two Kages behind him get ready as well.

The snake-like man suddenly bit his finger, went through seals. He was not going to…?

The scream was lost in the fight but a moment later smoke erupted from the seal and Sora, Tsunade, Gaara, Makai and Yasha jumped back as Manda appeared.

"Fucking hell!" Yasha cried out.

Sora looked up at the huge snake and wondered if he should do his summon as well.

Before he got a chance to dwell much further on it, something huge landed behind them. He whipped around and his eyes widened.

Tsunade stared at Gamabunta. There was only one person she knew would summon him for a fight with Orochimaru.

"Jiraiya!" she screamed.

The man stood on top of Gambunta's head but looked down, seeing them all. With his arms still crossed, he took a leap and fell down towards the ground.

With ease, he landed on his feet, all Konoha shinobis staring at him in shock. Having been gone for fifteen years had not changed his looks. He stood straight up, looked at Sora and said:

"What's up kid?"

A vein ticked on Sora's forehead.

"I've told you a dozen times before, name's Sora… Ero-sennin."

Tsunade thought she would faint. She looked at the demon-like man and said weakly:

"Naruto…?"

"Took you long enough," Sora said and looked at her. "I honestly thought you had it all figured out when you were staring at Kageenja and Shikaku."

"You're Naruto?" Sakura shouted. "Impossible!"

"Shut it, pinkie," Sora said. "And I do prefer being called Sora as that is my name now. Jiraiya, please just let's kill Orochimaru I want to go home."

"Sure thing, _kid_," Jiraiya said with a grin. A low growl from Sora's throat. "Whoa, easy. Man, you're easy to piss off today."

"Well, you put a hole through your chest, look at Orochimaru and realize just where you're standing and you wouldn't be too happy either!"

"Well, it was your choice to come here," Jiraiya said.

"Please," Sora groaned, and unknowingly to him a bit of blood trickled down his mouth. He felt it a moment later and wiped it away irritably. "Had it not been for some people I would've destroyed Konoha my fucking self."

"Yeah, talk on, talk on," the white-haired man said. "Hijutsu!"

The man turned and a moment later, Hiashi's voice:

"Neji!"

"Neji?" both Lee and Tenten exclaimed from their positions and turned briefly to look.

Hijutsu's eyes were one of the Hyuugas, in its Byakugan state.

"How dare you?" Hiashi screamed. "How dare you be in a demon's village, dirtying down the Hyuuga name?"

"Please, in the middle of the battle and all," Kageenja muttered from his spot next to Tsunade.

"You're… Shikamaru I suppose?" she asked. "No, I'm sorry… you _were_."

"I'll be damn, you're the first one who said it!" Kageenja said. "To be kind, I'll answer. Yes, you're right."

"What is it, Jiraiya-san?" Hijutsu said without caring about the shouts.

"Don't you dare ignore me!" Hiashi screamed.

Hijutsu looked over at the man and said, quite bluntly:

"Will you please shut up? You're annoying, and I can't focus on what Jiraiya-san wants."

"Hijutsu, I need you to do your secret art."

Hijutsu nodded and turned back to the battle. Orochimaru still stood atop Manda and shouted:

"So the great demon leader is no other than the demon brat from Konoha?"

"What, did you expect me to be the bastard son of a Biju?" Sora shouted. Then he realized something and muttered, "In a way, I am."

"Yeah, I'm sure Kyuubi-san would be upset if you say you weren't his son," Kageenja said.

"Well, lucky me he isn't here to hear it then! Let's do this shit and go home! Everyone set and ready?"

Jiraiya leaped up on Gamabunta again and Meikon and Mebana joined them. Meikon held out his scythe in front of him and Mebana spread out her hands, and chakra glowed softly between her fingertips.

Kageenja kneeled and put his hands together, and Hijutsu flexed his hands. Yokaze appeared again behind Sora and held up his spear. Sora threw off his vest and his back muscles rippled before seals appeared on the skin.

"Sora-san?" Yokaze dared to ask.

"Don't start complaining," the demon-like man said. "I can handle it." His hand took on the scrolls and with a flick of his wrist it went up in the air. He slammed his foot into the ground and took a deep breath before releasing a howl.

At hearing the howl Tsunade had goose bumps. It felt like Kyuubi. Sora's strength was so alike Kyuubi's she got frightened. She felt the howl echo in her, with her chakra.

"A war cry," Gaara whispered.

The scroll exploded in light and a moment later they heard Sora catch something. Temari cleared the smoke with a wind and they saw Sora's weapon.

It was a sword, but the hilt looked like a human spine and that the blade had grown out from it, the end of the spine curled around the steel. Sora did not wait any longer but began to run. Moments later, Yokaze, Meikon, Mebana, Yasha, Makai and Hijutsu followed. Gamabunta took a leap at Manda, therefore leading the giant snake and ultimately Orochimaru further away from the village.

Kageenja was the only one to stay.

"Why aren't you helping them?" Sakura shouted. "Are you as lazy as you used to be?"

"Sakura!" Ino protested. She held Chouji's arm. Then both turned to Kageenja and Chouji said, "What are you going to do?"

"Let's see if Sound can fly," Kageenja said and made a seal.

A sea of shadows flew out from his own shadow, rose like waves and went between the Chigakure people.

"Konchuu!" Kageenja shouted to the side. "They can handle it now, let's do our show!"

The man changed directions and ran towards the battle. He leaped up in the air and whirled around, sending out bugs for each turn he took.

"Rain of insects, sea of blackness. Which one do you prefer?" Kageenja whispered.

Tsunade saw a few trying to escape and Hijutsu charged towards them.

"If he uses our family techniques, I'll have him dead," Hiashi sneered.

Hijutsu put his hands together and something they had never witnessed before occurred. A spear of chakra was made and shot out from his hands. He whirled around and sent off two chakra shurikens. He made a jump and began to spin, letting his chakra rest outside, on his skin, making his whole body deadly as he landed with a crash. A moment later there were six dead Sound shinobis and Hijutsu came out like an arrow from the dust he had stirred up, not even looking out of breath.

"Come on, guys and girls, let's do this!" Tsunade called out.

-o-

Sora jumped up on Gamabunta and looked at Jiraiya.

"He's one stubborn man," the white-haired one said. He looked at Orochimaru when he said. "He ain't gonna give up easily."

"Let me handle him. I got a few things… I have to settle with this man."

"Your people need you. There are way too many shinobis for them to wipe out."

"Got no other choice then," Sora said and put two fingers on a tattoo he had on his arm.

"What are you now doing, demon-brat?" Orochimaru asked.

"Me?" Sora said with a grin. "Oh, nothing; I'm calling for daddy."

-o-

Kyuubi got up and the woman looked at him.

"That's my signal. Take care of the village until we returns, Oba-san."

"Don't you worry, child," the aged woman said. "I'll keep it safe."

Kyuubi nodded and looked at Yuugao who nodded. He turned to Mekura and Ikari.

"You don't have to," he said to them both.

"Shut up and just take us there," Mekura said.

"Wonder how no one knows who you are?" Kyuubi said with a grin. "You're as grumpy as you were back then, during the days you bore the name Uchiha Itachi."

-o-

Sora felt a bit weary but it might as well be because he was in the company of people he loved and people he hated. The mixture usually ended with him tense and cranky. He looked at Orochimaru and the snake-like man grinned.

"Calling for daddy?" he laughed.

"Yep!" Sora replied. "The big, snarky, mean Kyuubi is coming to town!"

"Like I'll believe you," Orochimaru said. "He may come, but only to find your dead body!"

He jumped away from Manda and Sora said to Jiraiya:

"You and Gamabunta kill Manda, I'll go for Orochimaru."

"Sora, wait-!"

The man had already jumped down and followed Orochimaru.

"Shit!" Jiraiya swore and then focused on the snake.

Sora cut down any Sound shinobis that happened to cross his path to Orochimaru and made sure he kept himself close but not too close.

When the snake turned around and begun to run towards Sora, he jumped up in the air and the snakes missed him. He landed and the chakra tore at him, wanting out. The wound pulled, now remembering him he was still wounded and he coughed, holding onto his side.

"Is the little fox injured?" Orochimaru asked with a crazy grin. "I can take away your pain… permanently!"

Sora took a deep breath and made a slow release of his demonic chakra. It began to creep up on his skin, turning the skin darker and Orochimaru took a step back.

"Sorry, snake," Sora hissed. "It's you who will die today!"

-o-

"We can't hold them!" Hiashi shouted at Tsunade. "They're too many even with help!"

Kageenja drew back, his left arm bleeding and said:

"They're coming."

"Who's coming?" Ino asked.

"Back-up," Kageenja said and ripped off part of his shirt. He wound the cloth around the wound, tied a knot and tightened it with his hand and his mouth. His eyes closed briefly in pain before his body tensed up and dealt with the discomfort. He looked at the enemies again and screamed out, "What the hell's taking you so long time?"

"Shouting isn't good for you," a smooth voice said. "Please relax."

"Shut it and stuff it Mekura-san," Kageenja growled.

Mekura walked between Tsunade and Gaara, his black eyes open and unseeing.

"They sent a blind man?" Tsunade said. "A blind man?"

"Blindness does not mean… weakness," Mekura said. "And I'm not alone… am I, Yuugao-hime?"

The woman walked up slowly and said:

"No… you're not. Ikari-san."

The man landed next to her, holding an axe over his shoulder. As he rose, he towered over her.

"Took you guys long enough," Kageenja said.

"Don't tell me you're having trouble," Mekura said.

"It was fine until they cut off my fucking nerves to my left arm," the shadow-user said. "Still got some tricks left, but the pain's getting to me."

"What about the others?" Mekura asked.

"Meikon and Mebana are holding up well, since you can't really kill Mebana and let's face it, when Meikon is in a battle for real, does he even care if someone slits his throat?"

"He'll probably fight anyway," Mekura agreed.

"Yep," Kageenja said before he spit out some blood. "Anyway… Hijutsu and Konchuu is still going strong, Yasha and Makai are with them. Sora-sama… went to fight Orochimaru alone."

"Not alone."

The growling voice made them all turn and Tsunade swallowed.

Kyuubi stepped past them and cracked his knuckles.

"Time for some killing," he said with a grin. "I'll go to Sora, then if you haven't finished by the time we're back I'm gonna kill the rest too."

"Got it, Kyuubi-san!" Kageenja said and mock-saluted.

"You think you can steal some flesh to tear apart from me?" Mekura asked.

"Just don't use the eyes, okay?" Kyuubi said. "You're a mess to fix each time."

"Don't bother," the blinded man said. "I don't need Sharingan to fight anymore." Kyuubi grinned at that and vanished.

"Sharingan?" Sakura yelled so that both Kakashi and Sasuke heard. "You're… you're Uchiha Itachi?"

"No, let me guess," Mekura groaned. "It must be the loud-headed pinkie my dear little brother had on his team. I still pity him and Sora to this day to have to spend time with her."

"Then the demon lied!" Hiashi managed. "About Itachi!"

"No," Tsunade said. "He said… there wasn't anyone in his village with the _name_ Uchiha Itachi. He just happened to not mention there was a man who had been that person."

"Sora is good at manipulating," Mekura said and shrugged. "Let's get this over, I hate to leave some for Kyuubi."

"You and Kyuubi are always on each other's case," Kageenja said with a wince as Yuugao put her hands on his arm.

"Wait a minute…" Kiba came forward, staring at her. "You're… Hinata?"

"Hinata!" Hiashi yelled, instantly coming back. "You're Hinata? You teamed up with the demon-pack? What are you, their new whore?"

The next moment Mekura, Kageenja and Ikari held onto her, her hand inches away from Hiashi's face and it glowing with killing chakra. Her eyes, now the traditional Hyuuga ones, were burning with hatred. Then she stepped back, she had been a moment from killing him and shrugged off their hands. She smiled gently and said:

"You know, if I had to choose… to stay here, with you Hyuugas, or be a demon's whore… I would always choose to become a demon's whore!"

She spit him in the face.

"Hijutsu-niisan was right to leave," she said. "I wish I had had the strength back then to follow."

"I'm your father!"

"No! You're not my father. A father wouldn't throw his daughter away like trash," Yuugao said. "Hinata is dead now. Neji, your nephew, is dead. Shikamaru, Shino, Itachi, Naruto, and the past identities of all people in Chigakure… they're all dead. And in their stead a stronger person rose. Someone who humans fear. Someone… you can't control."

She smiled cruelly at him and strokes his face.

"You just don't get it," she whispered. "Had you been kind… had you been half of what Neji's father had been… this maybe wouldn't have happened. But you don't know how to be kind. You don't know how to praise. Hanabi only survived because she was lucky and got the so called good genes. Had she been like me, you would have hit her too."

She turned around and looked at the Chigakure people. They all nodded and turned towards the Sound. She put her hands over her heart and closed her eyes, a moment later she began to shine.

"Yuugao-hime's ready!" Kageenja said. "Let's finish this!"

Her hair slowly began to float in the air, and her feet lifted from the ground. They all put themselves in position and closed their eyes. Mekura drew forth a katana and readied it. Sasuke made his way to them and Tsunade said:

"Did you hear… Sasuke?"

"About what?"

"About Mekura," Sakura sneered.

"I've known ever since I first met him," Sasuke said. "Hello, Mekura."

"Sasuke," Mekura said. "Would you like to be part of this?"

"Whatever 'this' is," the man said.

"Just close your eyes and let Yuugao-hime guide you," Kageenja said. "We haven't done this a lot of times, but it's cool like hell."

-o-

Sora slowly went down on one knee, watching Orochimaru try to get up with one of his legs missing. The demon-like man felt the chakra slowly eat away on one of his lungs and figured he would never really be able to use the demonic chakra without getting in trouble. At least it was not doing it fast, like the first times he had done it.

Blood started to drop from his mouth and he took a shuddering breath before getting up.

"How does it feel to slowly be ripped apart?" he asked.

"You tell me," Orochimaru said and looked up. "We're both ripping apart."

Sora grinned.

"Got that right," he said. "But you will rip apart for good while I'm not quite at that level yet. Maybe next time."

He grabbed onto the snake and threw him away, making sure to cut off all the nerves in the arm he had held. Sora felt the demonic chakra rise and wanted to release it all out. But that would mean burning his insides and as much as he wanted to give Orochimaru a painful death, he did not want to have a repeat of that experience. So he pushed the chakra back, only letting a minimum of it slip past into his body.

Orochimaru tried to get up but suddenly there was a foot on his back.

"Hello," Kyuubi said. "Now you made me angry."

"W-what?" the Sound leader managed.

"You made me angry," Kyuubi said. "You made Sora so pissed off he used the chakra he wasn't supposed to use, and now he's hurt thanks to you. This means, you made me, his father, very angry."

"Kyuubi…"

"What? You couldn't see it was me?" the demon asked in shock. "How rude!"

"I'm gonna kill him," Sora said.

"Do it without the demonic chakra, or you'll feel pain from me," Kyuubi warned and stepped away.

With force, Sora drew the chakra in and the burning of his lung stopped. It left it open though and Kyuubi put a hand on the demon-like man's ribs.

"You're impossible, brat."

Sora swatted his hand away and lifted Orochimaru up, straightening to his full height and holding Orochimaru by the neck.

"Any last farewells?" he asked.

"This isn't over!" Orochimaru hissed.

"For us… no," Sora said. "For you… yes."

He added pressure, and broke Orochimaru's neck.

-o-

Tsunade looked over the battlefield, wondering how it all would have turned out without the aid from Chigakure. Probably she would have been one of those corpses. She looked over at Gaara and saw Yuugao tend to his wounds, small as they were.

"Want some water?"

She looked up at the blue-haired man called Ikari and accepted the bottle with a smile. Ikari sat down next to her as she drank deeply.

"You think Sora managed to kill Orochimaru?" she asked.

"Sora-sama can do anything," Ikari said.

"He's a god?"

"No. He's just strong," the man said and looked at her with a shy smile. "He has moved beyond pain and all human stages. I'm nothing like him."

"Everyone has their own strengths that should never be compared to others" Tsunade said. "I'm strong. You're strong. Sora is strong. Even Enkai is strong."

Ikari looked at her.

"I've never met someone who is human and kind to me," he said.

"Yeah, we're a rare bread aren't we?" she said, making him laugh. "Hey, there's Sora right there!"

Ikari shot up like an arrow at the sight of Kyuubi supporting Sora and the Onikage looked a bit on the pale side.

"Don't worry," Kyuubi called out at seeing the worried faces of Chigakure people. "He was just his usual stupid self."

"You know, thanks to you, they'll soon never have any respect for me," Sora groaned.

"Shut up before I drop you."

Konoha's shinobis drew back a bit except for a few. Tsunade stepped forward as Kyuubi lowered Sora to the ground. Team Betrayers and the others joined their leader.

"You alright, Sora?" Hijutsu said as he handed the man a bottle of water.

"Just peachy," Sora grunted. "Give me a week of peace, will ya? Sick of war and all that shit."

"Really? Me too."

Meikon allowed Mekura to sit down while he spoke, the man's leg badly cut and his eyes closed.

"I know you didn't use Sharingan," Sora said warningly.

"… I don't think I did," Mekura said. "Are my eyes bleeding?"

"You know, you gotta open them for that."

"Oh. Sorry."

Mekura opened his eyes and Sora had a look.

"Bloodshot, you must have used Sharingan for some moments. At least it isn't as bad as last time."

"When was that?" Tsunade asked as she kneeled down before them.

"Two years ago," Sora said. "Blood was running like fucking rivers. And you used Mangekyo Sharingan that time. You still got a brain?"

"Yes, I have," Mekura said, eyebrow twitching.

"Well, then start using it," Sora said absently. "You don't need to heal this. Just don't try it again. Everyone else okay, Meikon?"

"Pretty much," the tall man replied, leaning onto his scythe like it was a walking stick. Its edge was coloured in blood. "When are we going back?"

"What, the mean people are glaring at us?" Sora asked and swayed on the spot. "I need to sleep."

"Who's in charge of the village while you're away?" Tsunade asked.

"Kyuubi."

"And I'm here, so who's next?" Kyuubi asked, putting his hands on the man's shoulder and leaning over so they were face to face… beside the fact Kyuubi's head was upside-down.

"Oba-san," Sora said, "so it's fine. She can kick anyone's ass."

"Even yours?" Tsunade asked.

Sora thought for a while.

"Probably," he finally answered.

-o-

"You don't have to leave tonight."

Sora put on the shirt Gaara had ordered him to wear and smiled wearily to Tsunade.

"I was serious about the village," he said. "I hate it. I hate being in it. Hate being close to it."

"But you don't hate me?"

He looked to her and saw something sad in her eyes. He walked closer and took her face in his clawed hands.

"At first I was sad," he told her. "Then I began to hate everything, even myself. Then I found Yokaze and the hate, anger and sorrow gradually was washed away by him."

"He allowed you to live again."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that. I still have my moments, we all have. But he helped me found back on a path that wasn't self-destructive."

"He's your child."

Sora pulled away but she grabbed his hands and held them tightly.

"Don't be embarrassed," she said with a grin. "Tell me."

"He is," Sora said. "He's my son. I feel it in my heart. The age-difference is only ten years, but he… it doesn't matter the age, he's mine."

"That's good. You should love someone who doesn't betray you."

"You didn't betray me," he said. "You acted the way I knew everyone would. Then I heard about you from Gaara… and slowly I came to terms with that… maybe not everyone hated me."

She bent her head and nodded.

"Come visit soon, okay?" he said. "I won't come here anymore. I can't. But… you're welcome to us. You… and those who doesn't hate me."

"I will come as soon as I can," she said and looked him straight in the eyes. "You bet on that. Make sure Jiraiya is there."

"I think I can persuade him for that," Sora said.

"Sora-san, we're ready to leave," Yokaze said as he had poked his head through the door.

"I don't think I'll get used to that," she said as Yokaze fully walked through the solid tree door.

"Don't worry, I haven't quite gotten used to it either," Sora said with a smile. "Okay, let's go then."

Gaara waited outside. He handed Sora a scroll and said:

"Take that to Oba-san."

"Okay, but why?"

"Just do it," he said. "Some techniques I found… that shouldn't be found."

"Ah, I see," the man said and packed the scroll away. "I'm sure she'll be glad over that."

"Who is Oba-san?" Tsunade asked.

"An old woman me and Kyuubi released once," Sora said. "Things she says indicate she's older than Kyuubi himself. Alright, you guys go with Yokaze, and we go with Kyuubi."

"You can do the same as Yokaze, Kyuubi-san?" she asked.

"Nope, mine's a bit different," the demon said as Sora, Yuugao, Meikon, Mebana and Mekura grabbed onto him. "But it works. Alright, ready? On three, Yokaze."

They seemed to already know the routine, and as the two Kages watched the group vanished. After they were gone, both Gaara and Tsunade stood quiet for a little while.

"He doesn't hate me," she said.

"I know."

"He said I'm welcome to visit him anytime."

"He'd probably appreciate it," Gaara said.

"When… no, how long have you known he's alive?" she asked.

"Around ten years," Gaara said. "Back when he was half-crazy."

"Is he still that?"

"No, not really," the redhead said. "Crazier in a different way I suppose."

"What way?"

"He must protect his villagers to all cost," he said and looked at her.

"That's not crazy. It's just the way of a leader," she replied.

-o-

**Epilogue**

Tsunade looked up at the walls and took a deep breath of the salty air.

"Tsunade-obaachan!"

The woman caught Enkai and swung her up.

"Hello, Enkai-chan," she said. "Have you been a good girl?"

"Enkai is always a good girl!"

"Ask her father, and he has a different opinion."

"Daddy!"

Sora met Tsunade with a smile as she handed over the girl to him. Enkai giggled, the tips of her fox-ears in Sora's face. The man leaned away with a sigh and put her over his shoulder as the two walked through the gates.

"The council?" he asked.

"Been quiet lately," Tsunade said. "They're accepting the idea you're not as bad as they thought."

"Yeah, like that'll ever happen," he said with a snort.

"Alright, they realize they can't do shit and try to do the best of the situation."

"What about Danzou… and those two I never bothered to remember their names?"

"Gone," she said and checked her nails. "They didn't stop trying to mess up for me, and creating problems for you so… they're gone."

"I don't think I feel very sad about it," he said thoughtfully.

"Don't be, they weren't any good to begin with."

She looked around the streets as Yasha came running and spoke to Sora, Enkai busy with playing with Sora's pointed ear. Tsunade felt a peace that did not exist in Konoha. In Konoha, you were teased for being different. Here… it did not matter.

She saw a small child run across the street who had a third eye on his forehead and his hair was silvery white. She spotted tattoos on his ankles and wrists before Meikon picked him up by the shirt. The boy smiled sheepishly at the stoic man who simply handed him over to Mebana. The girl was free from the office and had chosen to spend it with Meikon at the orphanage.

"How many comes each day, Sora?" she asked as they continued walking.

"It varies," Sora replied. "Too many children who lost their parents recently. The child Mebana is holding arrived a few weeks ago. He's already attached to Mebana and Meikon."

"And they are?"

"They like him," the man said. "Meikon tries not to show it but I know him."

Sora let Enkai climb on him as they sat down at a small outdoor-restaurant, him ordering some dango and she took some ramen.

"You quit ramen?" she asked.

"Not really," he said. "Still like it, but Mekura is on his way."

"And what does it has to do with anything?"

"Mekura-san is dango-stealer!" Enkai said and giggled.

"Dango-stealer?" Tsunade asked in disbelief.

"Yes, and proud of it."

Mekura took a stick and slid down next to Sora, half of it already eaten. Sora shrugged at her and ordered some more.

"I thought you had eaten today," he said to the blind man.

"Yes, but I got hungry again."

"Is there an end in that stomach of yours?"

"… Shut up."

Tsunade had to smile as she watched the two argue while Enkai had now climbed over in Mekura's lap and munching on some dango. Finally she got attention from the blind man and Tsunade got Sora's attention again.

"Sorry about that," he said.

"No problem. How's everyone?"

"They're fine," Sora said. "Team Betrayers are out on a mission, and Yokaze is probably playing shougi with Makai. It's their day off, so they always go and play shougi. When Kageenja's free, they take him with them too."

"Sounds nice," the woman said.

"Your front?"

"Sasuke and Kakashi are handling the village for me when I'm gone. I'm going to retire soon," she replied. "I don't think I'll move from the village… but I'll come here more often. The others, you know which ones, they're fine too. They're all busy with missions."

"With Sound gone, this world feels calmer."

"With Orochimaru gone you mean."

"That too."

"Ah, Sora-san, Tsunade-hime."

The two turned and saw Yokaze come.

"What, already finished playing?" Sora asked and tilted his head.

"It was boring," he said. "Dango again, Sora-san? When are you going to start eating healthy?"

"He's one of the reasons I can't eat ramen as often," Sora whined.

"Honestly, you can't eat fast food forever!" Yokaze protested.

"Why not?" the man wanted to know.

"I would like to have you here as long as possible."

Sora blinked owlishly up at him.

"And how the hell are vegetables supposed to keep me here longer?" he deadpanned.

"How thick is that skull of yours?" Yokaze moaned.

Tsunade could only smile. She knew Sora would never forgive Konoha's villagers. He hated most of them with passion. She would let him. They treated him like a monster.

Then let them see their monster. One day the village may burn, maybe by Sora himself or by Chigakure. But she knew, when that day came, if she still lived, she would side with the demons.

She had not forgiven the village either, and had a feeling she never really would be able to. She did not mind though.

"Tsunade, help me!"

She grinned at the big eyes Sora gave her; even with his demonic looks he still managed to pull of the hurt puppy face, and Yokaze could not help but laugh at his 'father'.

Hard to forgive. She thought over the phrase as she watched Sora playfully tackle Yokaze to the ground, Makai coming to mock-rescue and in the end the three men wrestling like children while Enkai giggled happily from her spot on Mekura's lap. Hard to forgive. Konoha had a hard time to forgive these people. For their words, their actions. No one from Chigakure had protected the walls. No one from Chigakure had made sure to put out the fires in the buildings.

Hard to forgive. Geez, who were they kidding? Tsunade would personally beat up every person in Chigakure that dared to say Konoha had a reason to hate them.

She left that behind as she joined the mock-fight with a war cry.

There was nothing to forgive.

End

* * *

The end of it! I'm feeling a bit teary-eyed but at the same time relieved; I got too many things, too many stories to write in combination with school (and the school I go to it's meant for us to write all day long on various stuff so I'm pretty much burned out with the whole writing-thingy).

Until another time,

Ja,

Tiro


End file.
